Mother and Father
by MrsSpookyLiz
Summary: Mulder gets told some news about his Mother by an enemy. Should he believe? Scully is concerned for his well being, and should be as things get more and more dangerous by the minute and she is the only one that can help. MSR, angst, action. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**MEMORIES**

The hot sun beat down on Mulder's face. He was sitting quietly in the garden of his childhood home, he heard his mother's voice calling to him from inside. Mulder sighed in annoyance as he was enjoying the sunshine, his sneakers hit the floor as he hit the floor of the garden patio and he launched himself off the sun chair.

'Fox? Fox I've made you some lunch!' His mother called from inside the kitchen. Mulder started to run up the steps towards his mother who was standing in the open door. A smile broke across his face as he realised what she was making, chocolate cookies. She also smiled and let out a small laugh.

'I made you a special treat darling, because it's your birthday tomorrow isn't it!' She said affectionately as Mulder reached her, and she grabbed him and pulled him towards her into an embrace. Mulder grabbed onto his mother and laughed with her. The scent of the cookies was filling his senses and his mouth started to water hungrily. Mulder made his way into the kitchen and smiled happily as he saw the cookies on the counter. They were still in their tray and were piping hot.

'Don't touch them yet darling, you'll get burnt! You're going to have to wait until they have cooled a bit! Here, have a glass of milk while you wait.' She said softly and started to take off her apron. Mulder looked at her with a smile as she hung up the apron behind the door.

'I'll be right back, I've just got to give your Father something. Don't you touch those cookies!' She said, pointing an accusing finger at him. Mulder nodded and took a sip of his milk. She left the kitchen and closed the door behind her. Mulder stared at the cookies, they looked so nice, he really wanted to eat one. Just as he leant forward to pick one out, the tray of cookies suddenly turned into a tray of medical instruments. Mulder frowned in confusion as he pulled his hand away quickly from the tray in surprise and fear. He had nearly touched himself on a scalpel. Mulder drew his hand back and into his pockets. He was now wearing his suit trousers and he was old, he was back to normal again. Where was his mother? What had happened to his sneakers? Mulder frowned in confusion and took a step backwards. Suddenly a hand grabbed his arm and he gasped in shock and turned to face Scully. The dreamlike state of his surroundings suddenly disappeared and Mulder blinked…

'Mulder?' Scully was saying to him, looking into his eyes with concern. 'Mulder!' She exclaimed when he didn't answer. She studied his face. He looked lost and scared. Scully grabbed his hand and pulled it out of his pocket. She had seen him grab the scalpel when she was looking at some documents on the body and she had gone towards him quickly in surprise, luckily he hadn't cut himself, or had he? Scully lifted his fingers up to the light and examined them. They were all right.

'Mulder, you nearly cut your fingers off for God's sake! Are you all right?' She exclaimed, lowering his hand now and looking at him again. He wasn't looking at her. She raised her eyebrows in confusion. 'What's wrong?' She asked softly, and slowly Mulder turned to face her. His eyes showed confusion. Scully sighed and looked around the room, she spotted a chair. 'Look, do you want to sit down?' She asked, getting frustrated. Mulder shook his head and seemed to snap out of it.

'I..I sorry. I drifted off. What were you saying again?' He asked, as if trying to find things to say to her to cover up his peculiar behaviour. Scully raised an eyebrow questioningly.

'Mulder I wasn't saying anything, we were just looking at the body, the one that I'm going to autopsy later… remember?' She asked, starting to get annoyed now. Mulder shook his head and took a step away from the autopsy table and cleared his throat.

'Erm, yeah, sure.' He said, and shifted on his feet. Scully waited for him to answer, and he didn't. She sighed and decided to change the subject.

'Well ok then, erm, well I'll do the autopsy and I'll see you back at the office in about an hour?' She asked, and Mulder turned and was already starting towards the door. Scully frowned in concern.

'Mulder! Are you sure you're ok?' She said. Mulder held a hand up.

'I'm fine, I'm fine Scully. See you later.' He mumbled, and walked out. Scully started to go after him but he closed the door in her face. She frowned with frustration and opened her mouth to call after him but then realised there wasn't any use. Sighing, she turned and looked down at the body.

'Great, lets get started then…' She said to herself, and pulled the mask over her mouth with a pissed off sigh. Scully looked down at the dead body and saw that its eyes were still open. She frowned. 'What are _you_ looking at.' She mumbled, and then reached up to close the eyelids.

**CONFUSION**

Mulder sighed as he entered the office. He looked around the room he knew so well, seeing the posters on the walls and the clippings. He made his way towards the desk and saw his name label sitting on top of a pile of papers. He suddenly had a craving for sunflower seeds. He went behind is desk and sat in his chair. Opening his drawer he searched for his bag of seeds.

'Dammit.' He muttered, as he remembered finishing the pack the night before. Mulder sighed and looked up to the ceiling and saw his collection of pencils. He let out a small laugh at the silliness of it all. Turning to his left he looked up to the small window where Scully had gotten onto a chair and looked out of it one day while she was holding an ice cream. There were so many memories in this office, some of them he wished he could erase, but he knew that they would never leave his mind, not until the day he died…

After a few minutes he sighed to himself as he wondered why he had had that memory earlier, and it had been so in depth, and with so much detail. He thought he had been there, like he was dreaming it not just remembering. Mulder's thoughts turned to his mother, his parents were now both gone. He hadn't thought this much about her for about a year now. He felt a surge of sadness fill him as he remembered the kind face of his mother. Mulder lowered is head and closed his eyes. The sudden memories of the other night hit him like a smack in the face. Mulder felt sick.

He was reliving it. Reliving it all over again…

_He was at home, in his apartment. It was a quiet night. He sat and watching the tv silently and was drifting off to sleep when he suddenly heard a knock on his door. Mulder frowned and checked the clock. Who would be calling at this time? Mulder sighed and slowly got up from the sofa. He heard the knocking again, it was harder this time. Frowning with suspicion he moved to where his gun was on the kitchen counter. Mulder grabbed it quickly and pulled it up into place. Edging towards the door he pushed himself against the wall._

'_Who is it?' He asked. There was a silence. No one answered, but they knocked again. Mulder sighed and held his gun up. Slowly, he edged sidewards and reached the peephole. He looked through it quickly and saw that there was a very familiar face in front of him. Mulder gasped and edged back against the wall. He felt nervous beats of sweat on his forehead now. Like hell he was going to let this son of a bitch inside his house. Just as he was about to tell him to go away, the knocking started again._

'_Fox, let me in. This is very pressing business.' The voice drawled. Mulder took a deep breath and looked across the apartment to see the shadow of his tv playing in the lounge. He clicked his gun into place. _

'_I'm going to open the door and you're going to wait five seconds then await my orders you hear me?' Mulder shouted through the door. _

'_Yes.' The voice said after a moment. Mulder nodded and slowly reached for the door knob. He slowly opened it and pulled the door open. The man's shadow flowed into the apartment. Mulder took a deep breath and came around the back of the door. He hid his gun behind it in case civilians were around. Mulder looked right into his eyes and felt sick with hate. There in front of him stood Alex Krycek. _

'_Come in, slowly.' Mulder said in a low voice. Krycek nodded and slowly walked into the apartment. 'That's far enough.' Mulder said angrily, and closed the door behind him slowly. 'Now what the hell are you doing here?' _

'_Mulder, I have information for you.' Krycek said. Mulder laughed with disbelief._

'_Since when have you been on my side?' _

'_It's information that I didn't need myself. I heard it, and I wanted to come here and tell you it myself. It's about your Mother, and something that happened in your childhood.' Krycek said. Mulder felt his heart skip a beat and he felt anger rise inside of him._

'_You son of a bitch.' Mulder rasped. 'If you think you can come here and play more mind games on me then you are very much mistaken!' Mulder shouted, and pushed Krycek up against the wall._

'_She's NOT dead Mulder. She's still alive.' Krycek cried out as Mulder pushed him hard against the wall. Mulder froze._

'_What the hell are you talking about.' Mulder said in a low voice. 'I went to my mother's damn funeral, I went there and she was pretty dead when I was there Krycek!' Mulder shouted, and was tempted to hit Krycek across the cheek with his gun. Krycek struggled._

'_MULDER! I have heard it from the smoking man. She's still alive. I swear to you.' Krycek shouted. Mulder shook his head._

'_Well you can tell the smoking man to die on his Morleys because I don't give a crap about your mind games anymore!' Mulder shouted, rage burning inside of him. He let go of Krycek and grabbed him by the neck of his jacket. 'NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE! NOW!' Mulder roared, and threw the door open. He shoved Krycek out and slammed the door angrily. After a few moments he felt his chest rising up and down heavily and he closed his eyes. Mulder suddenly felt faint. He backed against the door and slid down the door to the floor and dropped his gun. Angry tears stung his eyes. He wasn't going to believe it, he wasn't…_

He slowly broke out of his thoughts and was surprised to see Scully entering the office. Mulder frowned and checked his watch. It was over an hour since he left the autopsy room. He frowned in confusion, what had he been doing all that time? Surely he hadn't eaten his lunch that slowly? Scully was coming towards him, her heels clicking on the floor. She threw the files down on the desk in front of him. Mulder jumped and looked up to her. She was looking down at him with those sceptical eyes.

'Mulder, the man is a human, not alien, not superhuman, as you thought before. This case is closed Mulder, this wasn't an X-File we both know this. It was just a normal murder. I think we've pretty much cleared this one up don't you think?' She said quickly. Mulder didn't answer but stared up at her in confusion and shock at her busy entrance into the room. He didn't know what to say to her. His thoughts were somewhere else. Scully looked at him for a moment and sighed. 'Are you going to speak to me?' She asked angrily. He could tell that she was agitated, or offended. One of the two. Scully was hard to read sometimes. Mulder swallowed.

'Scully I, I don't feel too well.' He said slowly. Scully frowned in confusion.

'What?' She asked.

'I'm not concentrating properly. I think I should just go home and sleep it off, I haven't been sleeping well.' He lied. Scully raised her eyebrows with annoyance.

'Mulder we have case reports to file and you know that Skinner wanted to talk to us at 4…' She started, Mulder sighed.

'I'm sorry Scully.' He said in a small voice and rose from his seat. Scully rested on her hands on the desk and learned towards him.

'Mulder, what is wrong. You are starting to freak me out. I mean…' She said, exasperated, 'Mulder, you're as crazy as you were when you weren't you! When you were someone else! Next thing I know you'll be slapping me on the ass and inviting me over for dinner!' She asked incredulously. Mulder raised an eyebrow at her and Scully blushed. 'Oh I.. I didn't tell you about that part, well, that happened when you were replaced by that… guy… remember?' She asked, feeling embarassed. Mulder shook his head and turned away and went towards the door. 'MULDER!' She exclaimed and ran after him.

'Scully, you'll just have to trust me. I'll call you.' He said in a small voice as he grabbed the door handle. Scully felt her emotions take over her suddenly and she felt angry tears sting her eyes.

'No Mulder! You are going to sit down and tell me what is going on! You're starting to scare me. You can't just walk out of here and not explain yourself to me.' She exclaimed and grabbed into his arm. Mulder stopped and closed his eyes. He let out a lot breath of annoyance. Scully couldn't believe he wasn't confiding in her. She was paranoid now, that he wasn't himself, that he wasn't even Mulder. Mulder slowly turned to face her and to Scully's surprise his face was now full of hopelessness. Scully frowned in concern when she saw his sad eyes.

'Oh Mulder.' She gushed, and Mulder lowered his head. 'Tell me what's wrong. We tell each other everything, please. I want to help you.' She said softly. Mulder bit his lower lip.

'All right. You're going to want to sit down for this…' He started. Scully opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't find the words. The fear hit her like a bullet.

'Oh.. ok.' She spluttered, and they went to sit down on their chairs.


	2. Chapter 2

**WILL SOMEBODY HEAR ME?**

Mulder bit his bottom lip and felt the awkward silence in the office. He didn't know what else to say to her. He glaced up at Scully and she was looking into thin air. She looked distracted and nervous, like she also didn't know what to say. After a long pause she finally looked up at him. Mulder saw her sad eyes.

'Mulder…' She started in a low voice. 'You don't really believe Krycek do you?' She asked in a low voice. Mulder took a deep breath.

'I don't want to believe him Scully, but what can I do?' He said desperately. Scully glanced away from him again. He could sense that she wasn't just bothered about this.

'The main thing on my mind…' She started, and Mulder sensed that she wasn't happy, '..is that you were in the same building as Alex Krycek and you didn't even think to arrest him?' Scully asked slowly, Mulder saw her eyes filling with tears. He didn't understand her reaction and opened his mouth to speak but she stopped him.

'Mulder, please. I just can't believe you didn't tell me earlier!' She said. Mulder sighed heavily.

'I'm sorry Scully, I had to think about it I really didn't know what to do about this!' He exclaimed. Scully buried her face in her hands.

'Mulder.' She said in a muffled voice. 'What are you going to do?' She asked slowly. Mulder shook his head.

'I don't know.' He said, and Scully looked at him.

'Mulder he's playing with your mind. It's obviously a trap to lure you in. Don't fall for their mind games Mulder…' She started.

'Well Scully, imagine if this had happened to you! Imagine if Alex Krycek had knocked on your door and told you… I don't know… Melissa was still alive! What would you do then!' Mulder said, starting to get angry. His voice was getting louder now. Scully was taken aback and she felt tears sting her eyes.

'Don't you start that with me, I'm only trying to help you Mulder.' She said in a low voice which was wavering with emotion. Mulder suddenly stood up and hit the desk. Scully jumped in surprise and fear. 'Mulder!' She exclaimed.

'Scully…' He started, and stared into her eyes. Scully felt sick.

'What?' She asked in a small voice. Mulder suddenly shrunk in his chair again. It was like he had just given up hope, and to Scully's surprise he buried his head in his hands and she realised that he was starting to cry. Scully opened her mouth wide with shock and with a surge of sympathy for her friend and rushed towards him and put her arms around his shoulders. Mulder shook underneath them and she frowned deeply in concern. She was nearly crying herself. She knew how much this affected him. She was so angry too, so mad at Krycek and the smoking man. How could they keep doing this to him?

'Mulder, I'm so sorry.' She said softly as she held him. Mulder didn't answer. 'Let's get you home Mulder, you need to rest.' She said gently, and slowly he lifted his head up. She couldn't believe he was crying. It broke her heart. She lifted her hand to his cheek softly and forced a confident smile. 'I'm sorry I was angry Mulder, I was just so worried about you.' She said gently, and Mulder nodded. 'Come on, lets go home.' She cooed, and Mulder closed his eyes. Scully slowly pulled away from him and phoned Skinner's office.

'Hello Sir. I'm sorry Agent Mulder and I can't make the meeting today theres been an emergency and we need to get home.' Scully started, and Skinner objected quickly. Scully sighed. 'Look Sir Mulder has suddenly become very…' Scully searched for the right words, 'Sir Agent Mulder isn't well I need to get him home and I need to watch him, I'm sorry theres no time to explain, let me get back to you as soon as possible Sir.' She said quickly, and put the phone down before Skinner could object. She felt awful, but she needed to be by Mulder's side. Heaven knows what he could do if she left him alone. She definetely knew him well enough to know that he might go after his mother. She couldn't let that happen.

Scully turned back to Mulder as he was grabbing his jacket. Scully frowned with concern and she put a friendly hand on his shoulder. Mulder sighed deeply as they walked out of the office and into the corridor. Scully walked towards the elevators but turned as she saw that Mulder didn't join her. She frowned in surprise as she saw him standing in the corridor.

'Mulder?' She asked.

'Scully I just have to go to the bathroom, I'll meet you upstairs…' he started, and Scully gestured towards the elevator.

'I'll wait for you..' She started but Mulder shook his head and cut in.

'No, no I'll see you in the car park. Just wait for me I'll be there soon.' He said strongly, and Scully frowned in suspicion but before she could stop him he was out of the door and going towards the bathrooms. Scully sighed heavily and decided to go to the car park floor. He wasn't going to listen to her anyway.

**SURPRISE**

Mulder walked towards the bathrooms and opened the metal doors. Some other Agents came out and pushed past him. One gave him a suspicious look. He wasn't much liked around here. Mulder waited until the bathrooms were completely empty before he went up to the mirror to look at himself. His mind was going crazy. Was his Mother really still alive? He couldn't believe this was happening. Krycek really had his ways.

Mulder closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He heard the sound of the bathroom door opening again but he ignored it. So what if they came in. So what if they saw Spooky Mulder distraght and depressed. They already laughed at him anyway.

Mulder turned on the tap and looked into the sink. He watched the water swirling down and studied it carefully. He sighed deeply and felt a bit sick. He hadn't sleep well for the last few nights. His dreams were full of his mother and his childhood, like he was searching for something in them, searching for her…

Suddenly Mulder gasped as a huge sear of pain grabbed him around his throat. Mulder lifted his head and saw in the mirror with wide, terrified eyes a man behind him and he had a wire around his throat. Mulder tried to call out but he couldn't, the wire was too tight on his throat. Mulder's heat beat incredibly fast. He tried to punch the man in the ribs but his breathing was getting slower. He couldn't breathe. He panicked and tried desperately to break free but the wire just got tighter. Slipping on his feet Mulder found himself falling to his knees. He gasped for air but nothing came. Slowly he started to shake and he was starting to feel dizzy. After a few moments of struggle Mulder gave up and found his body falling into a deep darkness….

Scully sighed and checked her watch. She was waiting by the door to the car park for Mulder to come out. A few agents that she knew had come out and had looked at her with confusion, she had waved and laughed it off. They must have thought she was crazy sitting in her car in the car park at 3.30pm. Scully was bored now, and starting to get worried. Where the hell was he? It can't take that long to go to the bathroom surely?

Scully couldn't wait any longer. She undid her seatbelt and reached for the car door. Just as she was about to get out and fetch Mulder she heard her cell phone ringing. Scully grabbed it and answered it, grateful that he was finally letting her know where he was.

'Mulder where are…' She started, but was cut off by a computerised voice.

'This is not Agent Mulder Dana.' The voice rasped. Scully was taken aback by the voice. She felt fear hit her hard and she put a hand on the steering wheel. Her mouth wide open with shock she felt fear rise in her stomach. Something was very wrong.

'Who is this?' She asked tentatively.

'I have Agent Mulder. If you want him alive you will have to follow my instructions to the letter, do you understand?' The electronic voice seared into her ear. Scully felt angry tears sting her eyes.

'What the hell are you talking about?' She exclaimed angrily, and pushed the car door open to storm back into the FBI building. He had to still be there.

'Don't go back in there Dana.' The voice rasped. Scully stopped dead in her tracks. They were watching her. 'Thaaat's right. We're watching you.' The voice said playfully, and then laughed. Scully blinked nervously.

'What… what do you want?' She asked, and quickly looked around the car park to try and see some kind of camera. 'Do you want to kill me?' She asked in fear.

'I have told you want I want, I want you to do something for me, and then you will get Agent Mulder back alive.'

'If you hurt Mulder I'll kill you!' She shouted angrily, hot tears welling in her eyes. The voice ignored her and carried on.

'If you don't do this, I shall torture and kill him. Do you understand?'

Scully felt herself shaking nervously. She blinked angry tears out of her eyes. She waited for a few moments to let it all sink into her head. Taking a deep breath and moving back to her car she swallowed nervously.

'Yes. Tell me what you want me to do.'

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	3. Chapter 3

**TERROR**

Scully closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm herself. It wasn't working though.

'What have you done with Mulder!?' She shouted down the phone angrily. There was no answer. 'Answer me!' She shouted again, but again there was just silence. Scully ran a nervous hand through her hair as horrible thoughts started going through her mind. She blinked them away and after a few moments the voice came back.

'We can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you kick up a fuss, I'll start hurting Mulder. If you stay calm, I'll leave him alone, do you understand?' The computer voice said loudly. Scully bit her lower lip as a tear ran down her cheek in frustration. She wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

'Ye… yes.' She said sadly, and sighed heavily.

'Good. Now, start your car engine and leave the car park from the south entrance and head onto the interstate 395 and head out of the city to the west.' The voice said and Scully started the car up. She carefully made her way out of the car park and headed towards the south exit. She sighed heavily. 'Where am I heading to?' She asked.

'You don't need to know that Dana, you just need to follow my orders.' The voice said threateningly. Scully nodded and turned out of the car park. She made her way onto the city roads and started following signs to the 395. She took a deep breath to try and calm her ongoing nerves. She stopped at a red light and waited for people to cross. She looked at them, going about their normal lives, with no idea what was going on in the governement or the FBI or with her or Mulder at this very moment. It was at these moments that she longer for a normal life.

'Get moving Dana.' The voice rammed into her ear, making her jump in surprise. Scully shook her head.

'I'm at a red light!' She exclaimed.

'It's going to change in two seconds, get your handbrake off!' The voice said and Scully frantically reached for the handbrake. She pushed it down and sure enough the lights had changed. She pushed her foot down as soon as she could and she zoomed off quickly towards the interstate.

'Was that really necessary?' She asked incredulously.

'Believe me, theres more at stake here than Mulder's life. You're doing a mission for me remember.' The voice said. Scully sighed heavily and turned at the roundabout towards the west. She put on her indicator as she pulled out onto the interstate. When she was finally on the road confidently the voice raged in her head again.

'Put the phone in the handset Dana, you don't want to get stopped by the police now do you..' The voice said, and Scully felt terror rise in her chest.

'How did you know…' She gasped.

'Just do it!' The voice shouted at her and Scully fumbled for the handset and tried to keep her eye on the road. She picked it up and pushed it into the holder on the dashboard. She swerved to the right by accident and another car beeped its horn at her angrily. Scully cried out in shock and brought the car back to the middle. She took long, deep breaths as she felt the nerves hit her fast. She wiped an angry tear away from her cheek in frustration. She pushed the phone in finally and switched it to speaker.

'That's a good girl.' The voice said. Scully felt sick.

'How long are we going to be on this road for?' She said.

'I'll let you know when you have to get off Agent Scully. In the meantime, I'm going to deal with Agent Mulder.' The voice said with a tone which made Scully feel anger boil inside her.

'What are you going to do to him!' She shouted desperately, but there was no answer. She tried desperately to keep an eye on the road but her eyes were welling with tears. 'Hey! Please! Don't hurt him!' She shouted. But there was no reply. Scully felt her body shaking. 'Mulder…' She whispered desperately.

'Scully?'

Scully's eyes opened wide in shock. Was that really him? Did she hear that right?

'Mulder?' She asked in panic. 'Mu… Mulder?' She shouted. There was a long pause.

'Scully.. I can't talk long, I just wanted to let you know Scully that I'm all right, they haven't hurt me. Just do what he says Scully and we can get out of this mess.' Mulder's voice sounded urgent and panicked on the phone. He was talking much too fast. Scully didn't know what to think.

'Mulder!' She cried out, but then there was a longer silence and she knew that he was gone. She sighed heavily and hit the steering wheel angrily. After a moment the voice came back.

'Now, keep driving west. If you dare tell anyone where you are going or if you try and seek help, we will know. And I promise you, we WILL kill Mulder.' She computer voice said harshly, and Scully nodded.

'I- I understand.' She said nervously, and focused on the road ahead of her. She had to keep going.

'Good. Remember, we're watching you.'

**WHERE ARE YOU**

Scully felt her eyes lids closing, she was so tired, so unbelievably tired. She yawned heavily and tried desperately to wake herself up. She didn't know how much longer she could drive for, she had been driving for over five hours straight and it was dark, she was tired. Scully sighed heavily as she thought about Mulder and where he could be, she was frantic. Her heartbeat quickened as she worried about him. _Please let him be ok, please let him be ok._ She pleaded in her thoughts. Suddenly she jumped as the phone rang. Scully swallowed nervously and quickly pushed the answer button. A car swerved in front of her in the lane.

'Yes?' She asked in a small voice.

'Hello again Dana, getting tired are we? You poor soul.' She computer voice rasped loudly. It was starting to make her get chills down her spine. Scully shook her head angrily and tried to calm herself.

'Yes, I am rather tired.' She said through clenched teeth.

'Well, theres no need to worry now because you are going to get off at the next exit, all right?' The voice said. Scully felt her heart skip a beat, she was suddenly very awake.

'Will I see Mulder then?' She asked in a high pitched voice. Scully felt her stomach turn with emotion. 'Please, is Mulder going to be there?'

'All in good time Dana, you'll see.' The voice said, and Scully took a deep breath. Suddenly and to her horror she heard the sound of a drill in the background. Scully frowned in fear and suspicion.

'What's that noise…' She stammered. There was no reply, but she humming of the drill. Scully started to shake and angry tears stung her eyes again. 'Hey!' She pleaded. 'What's that noise!'

But then suddenly there was nothing else coming through the phone than the dial tone. They had hung up on her.

'MULDER!' She shouted in distress and tried to block the horrific thoughts that were clouding her mind. Then something even worse happened. In despair, Scully felt her stomach turn and she was nearly sick with worry. Out of the corner of her eye, a blue sign flashed out of view.

She realised that through her distress, she had missed the exit.

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	4. Chapter 4

**IF I TRADE MY LIFE**

'DAMMIT!'

The phone started ringing nearly immediately. Scully felt her heart pounding in her chest. This was it. She'd killed Mulder. He was going to die, and it was all her fault. She swallowed deeply and quickly answered the phone. Before the voice could speak to her and started.

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' She pleaded. 'Let me get off and turn around, I didn't see the sign please I'm begging you!' She said quickly. The voice was already talking over her.

'Dana… Dana. It's too late now. You have broken the rules.' The voice rasped. And Scully heard crashing about in the background, and she swore that she heard a man's voice groaning. Scully felt the words hit her stomach hard and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

'Please, I'm begging you…' She started, but her tears stopped her from speaking any further. Scully started to sob desperately. She couldn't see ahead of her, it was blurred and she was so tired. And now she had killed Mulder, she'd killed him…

There was a silence on the other end for a few minutes. Scully shook her head in disbelief at the situation. She might as well stop the car now…

'Get off at the next exit, and don't go wrong this time.' The voice suddenly exploded into the silence. Scully frowned in confusion.

'Wh-what?' She stammered.

'DON'T ASK QUESTIONS SCULLY, JUST DO IT!' The voice shouted. Scully felt her heart skip a beat and she wiped her tears away angrily. There was nothing she could do now, she might as well risk it all.

'Is- is Mulder alive?' She asked in a timid voice as the next junction sign came into view. She quickly swerved into the lane and a few cars beeped their horns at her, she didn't care.

'Just do it.' The voice said slowly, and then it was gone. Scully swallowed nervously trying to calm her nerves. She looked at her hands and saw they were shaking. The heavy sobs had made her throat ache. She didn't know what to think, what to do.

Blindly she cut into the junction and slowed down. Her headlights beamed ahead of her. She had never heard of this junction before, she was pretty sure that it didn't lead to anywhere. The street lights soon cleared and she kept driving steadily, there were no buidings around here. Scully tried to focus her thoughts and she took a deep breath. Where the hell was she? She started to feel nervous. May be they had brought her all the way out here to kill her. She kept driving steadily and saw the trees grow thicker. Was she driving into a forest or something? The tall trees loomed over the rood powerfully. They lit up as her headlights hit them, Scully shuddered. God knows what went on in these woods. From all the cases that her and Mulder had worked on in the last years she pretty much believed in anything. She sighed heavily as the thought of Mulder made her feel sad again, and guilty. She said a silent prayer to herself for his life. But then cried out in shock as she suddenly became face to face with another set of headlights and a body lying in the middle of the road.

'Jesus!' Scully cried out and slammed on the brakes. She felt the car shudder to a halt and she was nearly touching the body which was on the floor. Scully blinked her eyes in shock. As the car stopped, she lowered her hands from the steering wheel. As if in slow motion, she looked around. Where the hell was she? She was terrified.

'Get out of the car Agent Scully.' A voice called from outside. Scully frowned in shock and confusion. It sounded like it was being used on a megaphone or something. She reached into her jacket slowly and happily she felt her gun there. Taking a deep breath she slowly opened the car door and stepped out slowly. The cool evening breeze hit her and she gasped as it whipped her jacket open for a second. The headlights of the car in front were beaming in her eyes and she squinted. She could make out two figures standing by the two front doors of the car but they were sillouetted by the lights. Scully took a deep breath.

'Put your hands up.' The voice said and she slowly lifter her hands up nervously.

'Where are we?' She asked, feeling fear and anxiety boiling inside her. The figures didn't move.

'You broke a rule Agent Scully. Therefore, Mulder suffered. He's down there if you want to see him.' The voice said in an evil tone. Scully suddenly felt her tears threaten to fall again. _Mulder was the body on the floor._ She let out a cry in shock and started to run towards him, but she was stopped.

'NO!' The man shouted. Scully froze after taking a few steps. 'After we've gone. Right now, you stay right there.' The man said in a low voice. Scully nodded and couldn't speak. She was pretty damn scared now. She just prayed that Mulder wasn't dead, but she just didn't know. Her mind was racing. Slowly the men moved, and Scully watched them with nervous eyes. To her annoyance, they started getting back into the car.

'Hey! Who are you people!' She shouted as they ignored her. Scully frowned in annoyance. 'HEY! Explain yourselves!' She cried out desperately, but they had started the car. Scully ran towards them as they reversed and pulled out. She had to think quickly. She flipped her jacket open and reached into the back of it, grabbing her gun. As the car started to do a three point turn and then start to drive away, Scully pointed her gun and aimed. She quickly fired her gun into the back tyre of the car and the car suddenly started sliding across the road. She opened her eyes wide with shock as the car slid sideways but the driver seemed to keep it going. Scully ran forward further to get a better aim and she aimed for the other wheel. She shot her gun, and missed, then shot again. Bullseye. The car spun violently to the right and almost did a complete turn in the road. It finally came to a stop. There was an awful silence and the world seemed to stand still. Scully swallowed nervously. _Mulder._

'Mulder!' She cried out, and ran towards him. She fell to her knees next to him. He was covered in blood. Scully let out a cry in shock as she looked at his weak frame. She grabbed his wrist and waited for a pulse, her own beating incredibly fast. There was one, but it wasn't strong. Mulder was obviously in shock. Scully looked down at his face and she cupped his cheek in her hand. She felt a sob escape her chest as she saw him like this. It broke her heart.

'Mulder? Mulder can you hear me?' She asked him. He didn't move. 'Mulder..' She started now, more urgently. 'Mulder you have to help me, we have to get out of here.' She said nervously, her thoughts now thinking back to the car. She squeezed Mulder's hand tightly and waited for him to respond. He seemed to take forever. Scully suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Someone was watching her, and someone was coming near, she could feel it. _The car…_

But it was too late, Scully heard a gun being clicked into place and the felt the cold barrel of it being pushed against the back of her neck.


	5. Chapter 5

**NOWHERE TO RUN**

Scully felt her insides turn and a hot tear ran down her cheek. What else could she do? She waited for the gun to blow in her neck, for her to die in just one second. She looked down at Mulder who was now looking at her with wide eyes. She couldn't even imagine what he was thinking. Scully felt her body shudder.

'I'm sorry…' Scully whispered to Mulder, who looked at her with confused eyes. She closed her eyes as the gun was pushed into her neck more.

'Shut up. Get to your feet now.' The voice said angrily, and Scully slowly got onto her wavering feet. Her heeled boots were making her feet ache now. They scraped on the road surface as she stumbled. 'That was one nice move Dana, pity it didn't kill us though isn't it.' The man said in a threatening voice. 'It's over now, theres nowhere to run.'

'I just wanted to know…' Scully started, her voice wavering, 'Who you were…'

'We are the people who you fear the most Agent Scully, the people who want what's best for the world, the people who will do anything to cover up the truth.' The voice said threateningly. Scully shivered as the barrel moved on her skin slightly. She had to think of something fast, she needed to get out of this, there was just one chance.

'Why are you doing this to us?' She asked.

'That my dear, you will never know.' The man said with a laugh, and Scully closed her eyes as he pushed the barrel into her neck hard. 'Say your prayers Scully.' He said in a low voice, and prepared to shoot her. Scully took a deep breath and felt tears sting her eyes. This was it, this was her last chance.

Scully counted to three in her head. 1,2,3…

She quickly spun on her heels causing the gun to fire into the windscreen of her car. The man cried out and Scully was suddenly face to face with him, looking into his dark eyes. With a shout of anger she kicked him hard in the stomach which sent him falling backwards onto the road. Scully saw the other man run towards her and she grabbed her gun from her jacket and fired it into his shoulder. The man shouted out in agony and grabbed his shoulder angrily. Seeing his weakness and kicked him in the knees and he fell onto the floor weakly. Scully walked over to the other man and shoved her boot on top of his chest pinning him to the floor. She glared at him with angry eyes and pointed the gun into his face. He suddenly looked small and terrified, so different to how he had acted all day.

'Who are you!' She shouted, the man didn't answer. Scully shouted out angrily and pointed her gun at his foot. He whimpered nervously. 'I said,' She threatened, 'Who. Are. You.'

'I… I can't tell you.' He said nervously. Scully shook her head and shot his gun into the man's foot. Blood spilled from it and he cried out in pain, his scream filling the woods and echoing around. Scully felt the anger boiling inside her, it was out of control. Suddenly she heard a weak voice from behind her.

'Scully…' Mulder said, Scully spun around to look at him. Their eyes met and breathed heavily. He was looking at her with calming eyes. 'Scully, lets call a team, lets get them picked up.' He said in between breaths, clutching his injuries. Scully felt her chest right and fall and her heart was pumping in her head.

'But Mulder!' She started and he raised a hand to her weakly.

'Scully, you know… you know you need to leave it, don't… or you'll kill them… I know you're angry but… just stop…' He said weakly, and closed his eyes. Scully frowned in panic as he seemed to falter and then looked back at the man. He was grimacing in pain and she slowly realised that Mulder was right. She felt her whole body shake with rage as she slowly took her foot off the man's chest and take a few steps back. Turning away from the bleeding men she walked back towards the car and picked up her mobile phone and called into the headquarters.

Scully finished the call and turned back to the scene in front of her. She ran for Mulder, who needed her help now. The two men were on the road, bleeding heavily. She kept a weary eye on them though. Scully knelt down next to Mulder again and took his hand. He groaned in pain as she touched him.

'Mulder?' She said softly, and he blinked his eyes open again. Scully slowly began to realise what his injuries were. She felt hot tears sting her eyes. 'Oh my god Mulder, what did they do?' She asked sadly. Mulder's chest fell heavily in deep breaths. She put a hand on his chest gently. 'It's all right, the team will be here soon. We should get you in the car, you're freezing.' She said with concern, feeling how cold his hands were. Mulder looked up at her concerned eyes and forced a small smile.

'Scully, you look like someone's just died.' He joked, but she didn't laugh.

'You gave me a fright, I thought…' She started, but then lowered her head. Mulder saw this and frowned in surprise.

'What?' He asked, then closed his eyes as pain shooted down his arm.

'I thought that they'd killed you and it was all my fault.' She gushed, and a tears fell from her eyes as she blinked. Mulder squeezed her hand as he saw her upset. He hated seeing her cry.

'Scully, you couldn't have done any better.' He said softly, and Scully shook her head.

'No Mulder, you're injured.' She said sadly. 'Oh god Mulder, I can't believe what they've done to you.' She said in despair as she saw the marks of a drill in his flesh. Mulder clenched her hand again.

'Scully, it hurts…' He said through clenched teeth. Scully frowned in concern and kissed his hand.

'Shhh, its all right.' She said desperately, she couldn't even imagine what he had been through. She saw him close his eyes. 'Mulder, lets get you in the car.' She said, and he opened his eyes again.

'Scully, I don't know if I can…' He said painfully. Scully shook her head.

'Yes you can, come on.' She said with confidence. She reached down and scooped his shoulders in her arms. Slowly, she pulled him up into a sitting position. Mulder groaned in pain and Scully felt great concern for him, but she knew that this had to be done.

'Come on, easy now…' She said gently, and Mulder squeezed her hand tighter. She gathered him in her arms and slowly got onto her feet. Mulder coughed.

'Scully, I can't…'

'Yes you can. Come on, up we come.' She said, and with all her strength she hauled him to his feet. Mulder pushed himself up as well as he could and felt the pain surge through his body. Suddenly he was hit with headrush and his vision was clouded.

'Woah, Scully… I'm really dizzy… what's happening' He said weakly, and Scully frowned with concern. She had to get him in the car. She grabbed hold of him and felt his weight on her. He was heavy, but she could handle it, she was strong. She saw him close his eyes and she grabbed him tighter.

'It's all right, it's ok. Just a few more steps.' She said gently, and walked around the side of the car. Scully took a quick glance back to the road and saw the men still on the ground. When she was satisfied they were still safe, she opened the passenger door. Mulder was putting nearly all his weight on her now. She clenched her teeth as she shifted his weight into the car. He sat in the seat and she laid him back against the headrest. His eyes were still closed. Scully raised a hand to his forehead and checked his temperature, and he was burning up. She brushed some hair off his forehead and stroked his cheek. Mulder groaned as she pushed the chair back into an almost flat position so that he was almost lying down.

'Mulder?' She asked gently, and he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. She let out a small confident smile. 'Just stay here now and rest, I'll just be outside. Call me if you need me all right?' She asked. Mulder gave her a small nod and she closed the door. Turning back to the road she was relieved to see the men still there. Scully reached into her jacket and felt the handle of her gun. She was ready to use it again if she had to. She slowly made her way to the front of the car and then sat down on the road and leant against the front of the car. She was so tired, and she so desperately needed to sit down, to try and clear her head. Scully stared at the two men as they lay on the ground. The main man was still clutching his foot, and the other one was more serious, but what could she do? She couldn't risk helping them, and anyway the team would be there soon. She felt slightly guilty now as she looked at them. Her doctor instinct started to kick in and she swallowed hard as she felt the urge to help them.

Another five minutes passed and she was about to go over to them and help when she heard sirens from the distance. Scully took a deep breath of relief and slowly got to her feet. Blue lights flashed and were coming nearer. She felt so relieved now, so much more safe than before. Thank god. Thank god Mulder was alive. She turned back to the men who were now looking at her questioningly.

'It's time we found out who you two really are.' She said in a low voice, as the cars pulled up around them. Scully turned and lifted a hand up to signal she was there. The paramedics spilled out of the two ambulances that had come and she watched as they ran to the men. Mulder was also seen to. Just as she was about to help, another paramedic came up to her and asked her if she was all right, she replied a small 'yes' as Skinner came walking towards her in a long dark trench coat with a face that seemed to make her feel uneasy and was telling her that this definetely wasn't the end of all this…

**Theres loads more to happen in my head!**

**We havent even started!!!!!!!!!**

**Please lemme know if u want more!**

**Like it?**

**Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**MORE NEWS**

'Agent Scully, are you all right?' Skinner asked in his low voice. His eyes looked deadly serious. She swallowed nervously.

'Ye- yes Sir… I think.' She said and lifted her arms and looked down her body as to check herself for injuries she hadn't realised she had gotten. She let out a small laugh as she saw nothing wrong, and looked back at Skinner, but he wasn't laughing.

'What is it Sir?' She asked, her smiled dropping. Skinner lowered his head and sighed.

'Dana,' He started, Scully frowned in fear as she felt something big about to happen. 'It's about Mulder's mother, she was spotted earlier today.' Skinner said quietly. Scully's eyes opened wide with shock.

'Sir, that's…'

'Impossible?' He interrupted her. 'I know, and it's probably just a false lead but..'

'Who told you this?' Scully butted in suddenly, frowning in suspicion. Skinner didn't answer. She took a deep breath and felt anger burn inside her. 'Sir. Who told you this.' She asked, her eyes burning into Skinner. He shifted uneasily on his feet.

'I was told by letter, a letter was sent to my office anonymously.' He said and looked at her with desperate eyes. 'Scully, whatever you might be thinking this can't be dwelled on, for the safety of you and Mulder, and for Mulder's well being…' He said. Scully shook her head in disbelief and she clenched her fist tight.

'Those bastards.' She said in a low voice which was almost a whisper. She looked over to Mulder who was being taken into one of the ambulances. Blue lights flashed around the dark trees and lit up on her face as they turned. She looked back at Skinner and sighed.

'Can I go now?' She asked in a low voice. Skinner knew that she was irritated.

'Dana, I had to tell you…'

'I understand Sir, now please, I have to go and see my partner.' She said seriously and glared him in the eyes. Skinner opened his mouth to protest to her but she was already gone. He sighed heavily and watched as she made her way to the ambulance without looking back.

Scully looked down at Mulder in his stretcher as as she reached him she grabbed his hand and squeezed it affectionately. He opened his eyes and slowly turned to face her and their eyes met. He looked so tired. She smiled and he smiled back at him, her eyes full of concern for him. Some of his wounds had been bandaged up and some were still to be cleaned. Scully watched as the paramedics rushed past her, one came up to her.

'I'm a doctor and his partner, can I travel in the ambulance with you?' She asked and they agreed. They told her to move while they lifted him up into the ambulance and heard shouting from outside as the other paramedics worked hard on the two men. Scully knew that they would be critical, and it had been from her hand. The thought made her feel a bit sick, but she looked back to Mulder and her heart welled with emotion as she realised if it hadn't been for her shooting those men, they probably both be dead.

Scully sighed and made her way into the ambulance and took Mulder's hand again as the paramedics rushed around him. Scully could see that they were working well and she didn't bother asking to help because she knew she would only be in the way. One paramedic started cleaning Mulder's shoulder where there was a deep wound and she saw Mulder flinch in pain. Scully frowned with concern and put her other hand on top of his to give him extra strength. Mulder looked towards her again and she forced a smile. He looked like he was in pain, but he was strong.

'Hey Scully…' He said weakly. Scully smiled at him as he looked up at her.

'Hi.' She said gently and she saw him close his eyes again as the paramedic started to strap up his wound. Scully frowned with concern and felt the anger boil inside her again. The secret she was hiding from him was also eating her inside.

'I'm so sorry Mulder, I should have been more careful..' Scully said sadly, and she lowered her head. Mulder opened his eyes and looked at her sadly.

'Scully, you did the best you could…'

'No, I missed the damn exit.' She said angrily while the ambulance started up its engine. 'I'm so sorry..' She said sadly, and angry tears welled in her eyes. Mulder shook his head weakly and then grimaced as the paramedic pushed a wipe onto one of his wounds to clean it. Scully sighed heavily as she saw him in pain. The paramedics looked at her sympathetically. Scully took a deep breath and closed her own eyes. She felt the movement of the ambulance turn around a corner. She saw visions of the evening in her head, she saw the men's blood, the shooting, and she felt tired and weary. She frowned in thought as she tried to block the terrified memories of her in the car, hearing the drill…

'I'm sorry, we're going to have to make a stop.'

Scully looked up in surprise at a paramedic who was looking at her. She frowned in suspicion as the ambulance suddenly came to a halt. She felt Mulder's grip on her hand still and she looked down at him, he seemed to be sleeping. She looked up at the paramedic again who was now moving towards the back of the ambulance. She suddenly felt her heart sinking. This wasn't right.

'We're stopping? But this man needs to get to a hospital right now!' She exclaimed. The paramedic nodded.

'I know, but we have been told to stop.' He said simply, and Scully watched open mouthed as he started to open the back of the ambulance, the other two paramedics moving towards the back too. Scully let go of Mulder's hand in shock.

'Hey! He needs to get to a hospital!' She shouted, but they were ignoring her. Scully felt her heart pounding in her chest in fear as she heard the driver get out of the ambulance at the front and close the door. She stared at the men in disbelief. 'You can't just leave him here he's getting weaker by the second!' She shouted, and got to her feet. They ignored her again, and the back door of the ambulance was suddenly swung open. A cool breeze wafted into the back and Scully's hair was blown back from her face. What she saw outside made her nearly faint in shock. She had to take a step backwards.

There, all around the ambulance were black cars and men, with black suits, were standing beside them, with guns poised. Scully saw one look straight into her eyes and his gun was pointing right at her chest. She opened her eyes wide with shock and let out a gasp as the realisation hit her. They were surrounded.


	7. Chapter 7

**WHAT COULD I DO**

Scully shook her head in disbelief as the men slowly started to come closer. She looked back at Mulder who was still on the stretcher. She frowned in confusion and thought. What could she do? She was helpless. She slowly reached down into her jacket to bring out her gun but was stopped by a loud voice.

'Don't even think about it Agent Scully, its time to come with us.' The voice said. Scully felt hot tears sting her eyes as she felt herself shaking. Slowly, she raised her hands up and started to walk out of the ambulance. She couldn't believe this was happening again, hadn't she had enough bad luck for the day?

'Come out with your hands up!' The voice called over a loudspeaker. Scully swallowed hard and felt her legs wobble nervously. She had to be careful. Any wrong move and she could be shot down. She climbed down out of the ambulance and stepped out onto the road. She looked around her and saw that they were again in the middle of nowhere. Then it hit her. _The ambulance. _They were in on this too, it was all set up!

'Who are you people?' She felt herself blurt out before she could stop herself. One of the men click a shot gun into place and aimed it higher. She gasped in surprise.

'No questions.' The loud boomed over the speakers. Scully watched in horror as the men walked towards her and she got ready to die, to be shot to the floor, but to her horror they walked behind her and into the ambulance. _Mulder!_

'Hey!' She exclaimed as she heard them grab the stretcher that he was lying on. She closed her eyes in frustration and felt a hot tear run down her cheek. 'Stop!' She pleaded. Not being able to turn and look at what they were doing was killing her. She felt all the eyes on her and all the guns pointing at her. She felt so helpless. She could hear Mulder mumbling from the ambulance and she felt her heart cry out for him. She felt so compelled to run for him, to risk everything to make sure he was all right. She heard them pull him out of the ambulance on his stretcher and then they came back into view. Scully stifled a sob as she saw Mulder look at her with frightened eyes. The wheeled him back to a car and then to Scully's horror, they grabbed him off the stretcher and he was forced up off it. She heard Mulder curse angrily as they shoved him into the back of the car. These men had no sympathy and no care, she was sure that they were ready to get rid of her and Mulder quietly. She needed to think of something.

'He needs to go to the hospital…' Scully felt hot tears run down her cheeks and she wanted to run and kill the men who had just roughly handled Mulder. They turned back to her with satisfied grins. It made her feel sick.

'I don't think that matters anymore do you?' The man on the loudspeaker said and Scully squinted to try and see where he was. But she couldn't see him anywhere. She felt helpless. There were about six men with guns pointing at her. She didn't know which way to turn.

Suddenly she heard Mulder scream and Scully felt as if a bullet had gone through her gut. His scream was painful and terrifying. The men frowned and turned to the car that he had been put in and they angrily put down their guns. Some of them went towards the car to check on him. Mulder was still shouting desperately and Scully frowned in despair, but suddenly she realised that this was her chance. She gasped in surprise as she realised that the men weren't paying attention to her. She felt her heart quicken as she reached into her jacket slowly to grab her gun. She quickly grabbed it and pulled it out of its holster and shot the two front men in two quick shots. They fell to the ground and their guns fell out of their hands. With the sound of this the two men that had ran to Mulder's car turned and aimed for her, and they shot their guns towards her. Scully cried out and ducked out of the way of a moving bullet and fell to the ground. She rolled over and aimed again and shot the two men down. She heard the remaining two men coming towards her and Scully gasped in shock as she realised that she couldn't see them. She quickly pushed herself off the floor and spun around on her heels to turn to face them, but as she did a bullet came flying towards her. Scully cried out in shock and dodged to the left. The bullet was too fast though, and grazed her right arm as it flew past. Scully cried out in pain and her gun nearly fell from her hand. She felt tears blind her eyes as she felt the searing pain in her arm as it moved down to her hand. Realising her weakness, Scully tossed her gun to her other hand quickly. She cried out to try and push the pain away and raised her gun to the men who were standing in front of her and shot as quickly as she could. She shot the first man down and the second started running towards her.

'NO!' She screamed in annoyance and shot her gun again into the man's chest. His eyes flung open wide and stared at her for a second. Scully stared at him open mouthed and the world seemed to stand still as he fell slowly to the ground.

Scully felt herself waver on her feet. She had just killed six men. She felt her heart slowly get back to its normal pace. But the chaos wasn't over. As she lifted her head to look around the quiet scene she suddenly saw the paramedics running for the ambulance. She lifted her gun again angrily and pointed it towards them, but they were scrambling into the ambulance desperately.

'Lets get out of here!' One of them shouted, and the driver jumped into the front.

'HEY!' Scully called out angrily as the engine started. The driver pushed the pedals down too fast as the tyres skidded on the floor but then they were off. The ambulance tore off down the road and Scully felt her eyes stinging with frustrated tears as she tried to aim for the tyres, but she was too tired, and they were too far gone now. There was nothing she could do.

'No…' She gasped. 'You have to help Mulder..' She whispered in between nervous breaths. She closed her eyes and felt the world spinning around her, the pain in her arm throbbing. After a moment she was brought back to the real world by the sound of Mulder's voice.

'Scully?' He called weakly from the car. She sprung up in surprise at the sound of his voice. Opening her eyes wide with surprise she turned and ran to the car and flung the door open. Mulder flashed into view and he was lying on his back on the back seat. Scully gasped in shock and leant across to pull him up to a sitting position. She cradled him in her arms and looked down at him with concern. To her surprise he was smiling.

'Mulder?' She asked in shock.

'Worked well didn't it.' He said with a grin. Scully frowned in confusion.

'What?'

'Scully, you didn't realise? I started shouting to distract them, so you could gun them down.' He said playfully. Scully frowned in surprise and then realised what he had just said. The lightheartedness of his words made her smile also.

'Mulder!' She cried out, and he let out a small laugh. 'I thought you were in seriously in pain I was so worried!' She said. Mulder nodded.

'Well, it worked. I was still your partner and we worked together even though I was shut in a car and injured!' He said. And Scully let out a small relieved laugh. It felt so good to laugh after what had happened. She took a deep breath and held him close to her. They sat there for a while until Mulder broke the silence.

'Scully, we need to get out of here.' He said, serious now. Scully sighed heavily and closed her eyes, she was getting a headache. This was the first time she had felt calm all evening.

'We need to get you to a hospital.' She said slowly.

'Scully, we can't go to a hospital it's the first place where they're going to look for us.' He said in a weak voice. She fought the urge to argue with him, but she knew he was right.

'Oh god Mulder but you need help.' She exclaimed, and Mulder sighed.

'You can look after me, I'm all right. I just need a good sleep.' He said gently. Scully let out a small laugh.

'Me too.' She said and looked down at him. He was looking all right, but she knew that he needed further treatment and anti biotics. She could get some in him if she went to the right place. 'We'll have to find a drug store..' She started.

'Ok, lets get going.' He said in a low voice. Scully nodded and slowly lay him back down on his back. Mulder looked at her and then suddenly saw blood on her shirt. He grabbed her hand. 'Scully!' He exclaimed. She frowed in confusion.

'What?'

'You're injured.' He said, looking at the blood. Scully looked down at her arm and shrugged.

'Mulder, it's not bad. We need to think about you now.' She said with concern and let go of his hand. He watched her as she closed the door and walked around to the side of the car and he frowned as he saw her pick up a shot gun that one of the men had used. She walked around and got into the driving seat. Luckily the keys were still in the car.

'Ok, lets get out of here.' She said, and started the car up. She turned the car quickly and looked at the bodies on the road. She felt her stomach turn in fear as she saw another car coming up the road in her rearview mirror.

'Uh oh, company!'

She switched her brain into gear and pushed down hard on the accelerator and sped off into the night, leaving the scene behind her, and trying to block it out of her memory. Mulder closed his eyes and tried to rest, but his mind was racing with thoughts. The pain was getting worse, those bastard paramedics hadn't even given him anything for it. He couldn't believe that they had been in on it too, that it was all a set up. Mulder glanced to see Scully's eyes in the rearview mirror and he felt a pang of guilt hit him. She had gone through so much tonight, they both needed to rest and unwind. He wondered how long she could drive for. He knew to himself that she would keep going until she was sure they were safe, but he was concerned for her own health and well being. But Scully being Scully, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop her.

'You ok Mulder?' She asked from the front. Mulder felt himself smile a little at her concern and care for him. It was so overpowering, he was so grateful.

'I'm ok Scully, I'm just going to try and get some sleep.' He said weakly, and slowly closed his eyes as the car swerved onto a main road and street lamps shone through the windows.


	8. Chapter 8

**TRAVELLING DOWN MY OWN ROAD**

Scully blinked as the cars zoomed past her. She had no idea where she was now, she had been driving out of washington for over two hours. She felt her eyeslids threatening to close but she forced them open, like she had done for most of the journey. Mulder was fast asleep in the back, and her arm was aching and burning. She couldn't do this for much longer. Driving with one hand could only last for so long.

She took a deep breath and blinked as a car didn't dip its headlights as it came up to her. She cursed under her breath and looked across as the clock on the dashboard. It was 1am. Where were they going to go? She frowned in thought as she neared another main road. The looked up at the signs and they both lead to big cities. She decided against this and went straight ahead. _There must be a motel somewhere around here…_ she thought to herself. The area she was driving towards looked quite deserted and she saw a few houses rush past her. _Come on Dana, you need to find a drug store._ She told herself, and she looked ahead down the road. A few lights were showing and she kept going forward. As it came into view she saw a superstore with its lights on and a sign flashing '24 hr' on and off. She looked to the back again and saw Mulder sleeping soundly. She decided to go for it and turned into the superstore. Pulling into a parking space she turned the engine off and took a deep breath. _I need to cover up my arm. _She thought to herself, and pulled on her jacket.

Scully climbed out of the car and went to the boot. She grabbed onto the opening button and opened it to find nothing inside.

'Dammit' she cursed, and closed the boot again. She needed to cover Mulder up in the back, she wasn't going to take any chances. Looking around to see the empty car park and the superstore, she tried to find something. But there was nothing there. Scully kicked the car wheel angrily in frustration. _That felt good. _She thought to herself, and kicked it again. She had needed to let her anger out for a long time now.

Scully took a deep breath and walked round to the side of the car again and looked down at Mulder. She was going to have to risk it. Sighing heavily she locked the car and walked towards the superstore.

She walked through the automatic doors and at first was blinded by the bright lights. It was then that she realised how hungry she was. She walked down the asles and grabbed some sandwiches and three big bottles of still water. She was going to need them for more than just drinking.

Scully looked up to the signs and saw one that read 'pharmacy'. She quickly headed towards it and smiled at the man behind the counter. He was a young, a teenager Scully guessed.

'Hi, I'm going to need some bandages, the strongest antibiotic ointment you got and lots and lots of paracetamol and codeine.' She gushed. 'Oh and, could you tell me where the nearest place to stay is around here?' The teenager looked at her, stunned.

'Er… yes mam.'

**WATCHING THE SIGNS AS I GO**

Scully climbed back into the car and looked into the back to see Mulder still asleep. Sighing with relief, she put the things she had bought into the passenger seat. Suddenly she jumped in shock as her cell phone started to ring.

Scully stared at it as it lay on the dashboard. She didn't know what to do, should she answer it? She heard Mulder stirring in the back from the ringing. She shook her head and grabbed it. The display read 'AD Skinner'. Scully sighed heavily and quickly turned it off.

'Sorry Skinner.' She said in a whisper, and then threw it onto the passenger seat. Her nerves jolted again, she quickly started the car and pulled out of the car park as soon as possible and went to find the motel the boy had told her about.

She didn't like to sit still for long.

Skinner looked down at his cell phone with worry. This wasn't like Scully to do this.

He had come across the crime scene shortly after they had left in the ambulance. He had got the call and had come rushing, expecting his Agents to be dead. He knew that this had gone too far. Their lives were now seriously in danger.

'Assistant Director Sir..' An agent called from behind him. Skinner turned to face him as he walked towards him. He was carrying something.

'Sir, this is what we found on the floor. It's Agent Scully's blood Sir.' The agent said in a low voice. Skinner felt his heart skip a beat.

'Thank you Agent Faulkener.' Skinner said after a moment, and the agent nodded and walked off to the other Agents who were collecting evidence. They didn't know who any of these men were. None of them had names yet. Skinner felt anger burn inside of him, of course they didn't have any damn names..

Scully sighed with relief as she saw the motel coming into view. She slowed the car down and checked the sign, luckily is said 'vacancies'. She wasn't surprised though, this town was so deserted it could have been a scene from a movie where everyone has run away from some big disaster. Scully pulled into the motel and turned off the car. She looked to the back and then reached to nudge Mulder but he beat her to it.

'It's ok, its ok, I'm awake.' He mumbled.

'Mulder I've found us a motel, we're going to have to get you in without looking suspicious. Where's your shirt?' She asked. Mulder shook his head.

'They took it off in the ambulance.' He said, and Scully sighed.

'Dammit.' She said with frustration. 'Well, I'll go buy the room and then I'll come back to get you ok?' She said, and Mulder nodded. Scully grabbed her belongings and got out of the car, locking Mulder inside. She walked up to the reception and opened the door. An old man sat waiting.

'Hello.' She said with a tired smile. The old man raised his head.

'Well, well well! Hello there mam!' He said with a large grin. Scully let out a small laugh. 'You look exhausted!' He said with a jolly voice. Scully nodded.

'Well yes, I am.' She said, and then got back to the point. 'I'd like a room for two this evening.' She said. The old man looked behind her.

'Where's the other person?'

'Oh well, you see its my husband, hes erm… hes had a bit too much to drink I'm afraid so to prevent embarassment I left him in the car..' She said, faking a laugh. The old man laughed in response.

'Oh I see, well right then. What would be the name?' He asked. Scully searched her tired brain.

'Mr and Mrs…' she glanced at some newspaper cuttings on the wall and saw a name in bold letters, 'Walton.' She finished. The man nodded and wrote it down in his book. Scully waited for him to collect a key from the wall and she saw that there were more than a few rooms free. He returned and gave her a warm smile.

'Room 10. That'll be 30 dollars for the night.' He said, and Scully got out her purse, her arm panged with pain momentarily. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and let it pass. She felt the old man's eyes on her and she quickly took the money out and handed it over with her left hand.

'Thank you Sir.' She said with a smile.

'Do you want me to show you where it is?' He said, ready to get out from behind his desk but Scully stopped him quickly.

'No.' She almost shouted, and then let out a laugh. 'I mean, I'm sure we'll be able to find it ourselves.' She said with a smile, and the old man frowned in surprise and then nodded.

'All right then! Sleep well.' He said, and then went through a door at the back. Scully took a sigh of relief and turned to go back to the car. She unlocked it and looked down at Mulder.

'Ok Mulder, lets go get indoors.' She said with a small smile. She felt a yawn coming on.

'Ok.' Mulder said weakly. Scully frowned with concern and leant across the seat and helped him up. 'Hey Scully?' Mulder asked as he was helped out of the car. Scully grabbed onto him tightly.

'Yep?' She asked.

'What's our alias?' He asked her with a small smile. Scully let out a small giggle.

'Mr and Mrs Walton.' She said, and Mulder nodded.

'Pretty good.' He said playfully, and Scully closed the door behind him. She locked the door quickly and led Mulder to room 10. As she opened the door for him she took one last look around to check they weren't being followed.


	9. Chapter 9

**REFUGE**

Scully looked across the room from the bathroom at Mulder lying on the bed. He looked so weak and tired. Finishing off the bandage she had wrapped around her arm, she took a deep breath. When she was done she washed her hands and got the ointment that she had bought at the store. She took out the bandages and the cotton wool wipes and doused it with the ointment. As she walked into the main room Mulder turned to face her. She felt her stomach turn with emotion for him as he lay there, so helpless. She moved towards him and pulled up a chair next to the bed.

'Hey doc.' He joked, and Scully leaned over him.

'I'm going to have to change the dressing that they did in the ambulance, I can't trust that they did a very good job.' Scully said seriously, and Mulder's chest rose up and down with a sigh. Scully blinked and then started to take the dressing off carefully. Mulder winced as the tape was pulled from his sore skin. Scully felt sick as she saw the wounds underneath. She couldn't believe someone had done this to him.

'Oh Mulder…' She gushed, her eyes welling with tears. Mulder looked across at her with concern.

'Scully, it doesn't feel as bad as it looks.' He said in a small voice.

'I can't believe they used a…. drill.' Scully said quietly and Mulder closed his eyes, obviously remembering the pain. Scully shook her head. 'Sorry.' She said gently, and took his hand and squeezed it.

After a moment she went back to taking the dressings off. She looked down at the wounds and saw that they were still pretty raw and Scully couldn't even imagine the pain he was in. Mulder lay completely still though and was well behaved.

'Let me just get you some pain killers.' She said with a sympathetic smile and went to get them out of the bag. Mulder nodded weakly and looked at her as she returned to his bedside. Scully was caught off guard by the look in his eyes. He looked scared now. Scully sat down next to him again and grabbed his hand.

'Mulder, what's wrong?' She gushed, and Mulder didn't take his eyes off her.

'Scully… is this going to hurt?' He asked sadly, and Scully couldn't lie.

'Mulder, I'm going to do the best I can to keep you comfortable. I promise.' She said softly and she brought his hand to her lips. Mulder closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

'It hurts just to breathe.' He said quietly. Scully bit her lower lip.

'I'm not surprised.' She said gently, and looked down at the pain killers in her lap. She felt pathetic. 'This is the best I could get.' She said in a small voice and tears were coating her throat. She felt so useless, like a failure. She wanted to help him so much more. Mulder nodded.

'May be I should have just bought you some sleeping pills.' She said, and Mulder laughed. She felt herself smile a little bit, but it didn't last long.

'Just go for it Scully, we don't have any other choice.' Mulder said, obviously trying to push away his doubts. Scully nodded and blinked a tear away from her eyes. She saw that his eyes were closed. She sighed heavily and poured out all the pain killers that his body could manage and then picked up the glass of water from the bedside table. She helped him up into a sitting position and Mulder winced in pain. She frowned with concern and helped him take the pills, one by one. Every swallow was an effort for him now, his body was getting tired and weaker by the minute. When he had finished she lay him back down again and stroked his cheek gently as if to try and ease the pain for him by her touch. Mulder groaned as she touched him, it reminded him of the way his mother had used to look after him when he was ill as a little boy. Mulder felt his head begin to swim and the effect of the pills started to make him feel dizzy. _His mother… his mother…_

An hour later

Scully finished the final dressing on the last wound. Mulder lay with his face away from her. She had been as careful as she could have been with him, but he had called out in pain a few times. It had been a difficult job. She taped down the last patch of bandage on his chest and Mulder winced again, but Scully carried on.

'This is the last one Mulder. I've nearly finished.' She said gently, and checked that it was all done as well as she could. Scully looked down at his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god that was over.

'I've finished Mulder, are you all right?' She asked gently, and he slowly turned his head to face her. Scully frowned with concern as he saw his pained expression and that he was sweating. She raised a hand to his forehead and felt that he was very hot. She sighed, there was nothing else she could do.

'Can I sleep now?' He asked in a muffled voice, delirious from the pain. Scully nodded. She noticed that he was shivering slightly. Scully sighed nervously and felt tears threaten to fall again, he so badly needed a hospital. But she needed to be strong for him.

Pushing all negative thoughts away she reached down the bed to get the covers and gently pulled them up to his waist. Mulder groaned weakly.

She took hold of his hand gently and sat down in the chair. She nearly drifted off straight away but Mulder started talking to her. He mumbled something and she couldn't hear.

'What?' She said softly, half asleep herself.

'Thank you Scully.' He mumbled softly, and she felt pressure on her hand as he squeezed it. She let out a tired laugh and managed a small smile.

'Night Mulder.' She said sleepily, and she reached up to turn the bedside light off. 'Wake me if you need me…' She said dreamily.

As soon as the room was plunged into darkness Scully let her head fall back against the chair and she closed her eyes. It didn't take long for her to sleep.

**THE MORNING AFTER**

Scully jumped awake.

She blinked as she looked around the strange room madly. It was a weird colour, and with strange furniture she didn't recognise. Sunshine was shining through the thin curtains and onto her back. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She suddenly felt a surge of pain in her arm and she gasped in shock. Where the hell was she?

Suddenly she looked across and saw Mulder lying on the bed. Then it hit her. She remembered exactly where she was.

Taking a deep breath she sunk back into the chair and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. Dread built inside her as she remembered the events of the day before. Images flashed in front of her eyes. The long drive, the phone calls, the men, her gun…

'Mulder…' She gasped as she remembered what had happened to him. She frowned with concern and worry as she looked at him, still in the bed. She took hold of his hand gently and checked his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found one, it was slightly faster than it should be, but she wasn't surprised. He had gone through a lot of pain the night before and the pills had increased his heart rate. She got some more out so that he could take them when he woke up. Scully took one for herself and then rose from her seat slowly. She glanced at her watch. 11am.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned as she made her way to the bathroom. She checked that her jacket was still in the room and she saw it hung over the table in the corner. Scully looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and saw how the effect of the day had changed her appearance. Her hair was messy, and her eyes were puffy. She sighed heavily and put the taps on to get a sink of water to wash her face in. She unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it off so that she was standing in her bra. There was a breeze coming in from a slightly open window in the bathroom and she felt it whip around her bare flesh. She opened the bathroom cabinet and saw that there was a small comb in it. Scully closed it again and put the comb in the water. She desperately wanted a shower, but she knew she couldn't risk getting her arm wet. She sighed and combed the wet comb through her hair, flattening it down. When she was satisifed with her hair she dipped her hands in the water and then threw it over her face. The water was so refreshing on her skin. Scully frowned as she heard a strange noise. She frowned in suspicion and then heard it again, and realised it was her stomach. Suddenly it hit her. She was starving.

Scully remembered how hungry she had been the night before and she remembered the food she had bought. She must have forgotten about it when looking after Mulder. Scully put her shirt in the sink and let it soak. She needed to try and get the blood stains out of it as good as possible.

She walked back into the room and walked towards her jacket. Just as she was about to pick it up to put it on she heard Mulder from the bed.

'Scully?' He groaned in a small voice. Scully spun round in shock and saw him looking at her with a confused expression. Scully gasped as she realised that she was standing in front of him in her bra.

'Mulder!' She gushed in a mixture of embarassment and happiness and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Scully quickly threw her jacket over her shoulders as quickly as she could considering her arm, and to her embarassment she realised that Mulder was smiling.

'Keep goin' there FBI woman.' He joked, and Scully let out a small sigh but she couldn't help smiling. She had heard that line from him before. When she started buttoning her jacket she sighed.

'Mulder, are you all right?' She asked quickly changing the subject. She walked towards him and sat down on the bed next to him. Mulder's face showed playful disappointment.

'Aw the show was just getting started Scully why did you have to ruin it!' He joked and Scully sighed in frustration.

'MULDER!' She cried. 'I take it you feel better today then?' She asked with wide knowing eyes. Mulder sighed heavily.

'A little…' He said, his smile disappearing. Scully took his hand and raised her other hand to his forehead. 'You're not so hot today, are you still in a lot of pain?' She asked gently and Mulder nodded. Scully went round to the other side of the bed and picked up the tablets she had prepared for him. 'Here, take these again.' She said in a serious tone, and she helped him up into a sitting position again. 'May be we can keep you propped up today, do you think you can do that?' She asked, as he gave her a look that seemed to refuse. Mulder paused for a moment.

'We'll try it.' He said quietly, and Scully nodded. Her hold on him was strong, she felt better after her long sleep. Mulder winced in pain as he moved. Scully finally got him into a sitting position and she grabbed the pillows from underneath him and propped them up against the headboard. She saw Mulder grimace in pain and she slowly laid him against them.

'Is that ok?' She asked softly and Mulder managed a small nod. 'Good. Here you go, take these.' She said, putting a pill into his mouth. She also helped get the water down him.

When he had taken all of his pills Mulder took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

'These pills make me dizzy.' He said in a small voice. Scully let out a small laugh.

'Good dizzy?' She asked. Mulder nodded. She giggled at his response and they sat together for a while. After a moment Scully broke the silence.

'Mulder, we're going to have to get you some clothes. You can't go around in just your boxers. Or just your trousers for that matter.' She said with a small smirk. Mulder nodded. 'So I'm going to go out to the nearest store and pick you up something ok?' She said gently. Mulder opened his eyes and looked at her. Scully felt her stomach flip for a moment as his eyes bore into her.

'Get me something nice Scully.' He said jokingly and she squeezed his hand.

'I will. You just wait here and rest, then we'll talk about what we're going to do when we get back.' She said, and then felt her stomach growl at her again. 'Jesus, I'm so hungry, I'm going to have to eat first.'

'Food?' Mulder asked, interested. Scully rose from the bed.

'Well, yes.' She said, moving towards the shopping she had bought yesterday. An opened bottle of water sat on top of the table and she poured herself a glass. 'I bought some sandwiches. You can have a little bit, but not too much. Your body is dealing with its injuries at the moment.' She said seriously. Scully took out a cheese sandwich and dug into it quickly. She picked up a ham one for Mulder and went back to the bed. Mulder looked at her with wide eyes again and she frowned with concern.

'What's wrong?' She asked softly. Mulder shook his head.

'Nothing, I'm just hungry.' He said quietly. Scully nodded and broke a bit of sandwich off for him and helped him eat it. He slowly swallowed it. Scully finished off her sandwich and took a deep breath. After a few minutes she let Mulder have another bite and then she got up to go to the store. She grabbed her gun just in case and exited the room, locking it behind her.

**More to come! **

**What do u think so far?**

**Please review!**

**Will they get home safe?**

**Will they find out about Mulder's mother?**

**What the hell is going on there anyway!**

**Please review and tell me if u want me to go on! Thanks!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I SEE DANGER **

Scully walked out into the sunlight and she felt that the air was warmer than yesterday. She took a deep breath as she felt the fresh air fill her lungs. She turned and quickly made her way to the nearest store she could find. She saw one a little down the road which looked like it had some cheap clothing in it. She quickened her pace and walked along the dusty side of the road. She felt a bit exposed with just her jacket on, but hopefully no one had noticed. The collar was quite high.

She reached the store and went inside. It was quite small, and seemed to sell basic clothing. She saw a top which would fit her and she picked it up quickly, and then found a navy blue thin sweater than Mulder could wear. She went to pay for the items, and the old lady at the till smiled at her sweetly.

Scully carried her plastic bag to the motel and she caught the sight of a police car out of the corner of her eye. Scully felt as if she had been hit in the stomach and she gasped out loud as she turned to get proper view of it. She saw it pull into the motel car park and then park at the far end and then just sit there. Scully frowned in suspicion and felt fear rise in her throat. She quickly turned and started walking back to her room as fast as she could to tell Mulder that they had to go, they had to leave, when she bumped into the old man from the reception. Scully gasped in shock and dropped her carrier bag on the floor.

'Hey! Oh I'm sorry darlin'!' The old man exclaimed and bent down to pick up the bag. Scully looked down in annoyance as he picked it up and handed it to her. She nervously thanked him and made her way away from him but he stopped her.

'Oh Mam I was actually looking for you.' The man called after her, and Scully stopped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in annoyance. _This better not take long. _

'Oh really?' Scully said, forcing a smile and turning quickly. The old man was looking at her with wide eyes.

'Yes, you see, I need to know if you need the room for another night because its time to start checking out if you know what I mean..' He said and tapped his watch on his wrist. Scully raised an eyebrow. Like he neede them to check out fast? This place was practically dead.

'Erm, sure. Well Sir we are going to be out of here in the next 30 minutes I promise.' Scully said with a smile and the old man nodded happily.

'Ok, thank you.' He said, and then made his way back to the reception. Scully took a sigh of relief and quickly made her way towards the room. When she reached the door she swung it open and slammed it behind her, waking Mulder up from a doze.

'Mulder, we need to get out of here.' Scully thundered in. Mulder blinked in confusion.

'What.. what's happened?' He said in a tired voice. Scully put the bag of clothing down on the table and went towards him. She looked down at him and saw that he was looking at her with wide eyes. She sighed heavily in frustration.

'Mulder, the police are outside. They just pulled into the car park and are just sitting there.' She said in a low voice. 'Now we need to get out of here, we can't risk being seen. Now I'm going to put on my top that I bought and you need to put this on..' She said, moving towards the desk and grabbing the plastic bag. Scully pulled Mulder's sweater out and put it down on the bed. 'I'll help you get it on, just let me collect all of our things.' She said in a rush, and started tearing about the room picking up all their items. Mulder watched her in surprise at her hurry. She was tearing around the room like a mad woman. But he knew that she was right, they needed to get out of there.

Scully returned from the bathroom after a few moments in the top she had bought. Mulder saw her come towards him and he tried to get himself up into a sitting position, but pain went through his chest and he cried out in annoyance. Scully was quick to help him and she put an arm around his shoulders and helped him up. She quickly pulled the sweater over his head and slowly got his arms through the holes. Mulder groaned in pain as he moved his arms as the wounds in his shoulders ached.

'I'm sorry Mulder, you're going to have to be strong.' She said gently but confidently. Mulder nodded and closed his eyes and Scully slowly pulled the sweater down his chest. He bit his lip. The pain was almost unbearable. When she had finished she put a hand on his cheek gently.

'Mulder?' She asked in a whisper. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at her. Scully felt her insides turn with sympathy as she saw that his eyes had tears in them. She tilted her head to one side and frowned in concern. 'Oh Mulder, I'm sorry.' She said gently and he nodded.

'It's not your fault Scully, I'm going to have to get used to this. Come on, we have to go.' He said and before Scully could say anything else he shook his head and took hold of her arm. 'Come on, help me up.'

**ESCAPE**

As Scully helped Mulder down the steps and into the car park, she looked across at the police car with fear. She could see two policemen sitting in the front seats, talking. She had packed the car up and she had given the key back to the reception, it was just this last part, where she had to get Mulder in the car without making him look suspicious. She could tell this was killing him, he was grimacing in pain as he moved. Scully held him tight, and used all her strength. She told him to turn his face to hers, to make it look like they were talking intimately. Scully stared into Mulder's eyes and smiled with a false smile. She could see tears brimming in his eyes, and she wanted to hold him, to tell him to rest and that he was going to be all right, but she couldn't she had to get him in the car. As they reached the passenger side she helped him in and tried to make it look like she was just trying to get something out from the floor of the car. When he was in the seat she looked at him to ask him if he was all right and he just nodded at her. She nodded back to tell him she understood and without thinking she moved forward to kiss him on the forehead. She felt so proud of him, and so sorry. Mulder looked at her with a mixture of shock and happiness, and she closed the passenger door. Glancing back at the police car, she saw that the officers were talking again. Quickly she went round to the side of the car and got in. She slammed the door shut and fired the car up straight away.

'Mulder, are you all right?' She said in a panic.

'Scully I'm fine lets just get out of here.' He said desperately, and she rammed the car into reverse. She quickly manovered out of the parking space and made her way out of the car park and onto the road. Thank god.

When they were a good distance away and Scully was sure they weren't being followed she turned to look across at Mulder. He was sitting with a pained expression on his face.

'Mulder, do you want me to stop?' She asked with worried eyes. Mulder shook his head.

'No Scully, I'd better get used to sitting up, it'll help me I think. I'll just rest now.' He said slowly and she nodded.

'Ok, well let me know. I will have to check on you in about an hour anyway.' She said gently, and Mulder nodded.

'Thanks Scully. You're too good for me you know.' He said with a small smirk. Scully let out a laugh and she couldn't believe that he was still amusing when he was in so much pain. She turned to the road and got ready for another long drive.

FBI headquarters

Skinner ran to the phone as fast as he could. He grabbed it and threw it to his ear.

'Yes.' He said urgently.

'Asisstant Director Sir, we have got an ID on your missing agents.' The voice said down the phone. Skinner felt relief fill his body.

'Good work agents, did they leave as soon as they saw the police car?' He asked.

'It appears so Sir. The team said that Agent Scully saw the car and then left in the next 30 minutes or so. She seemed to be in a hurry Sir.'

Skinner closed his eyes and sighed. This meant that they were in danger, and on the run. They couldn't trust anyone.

'All right, thank you. Send me the details of their whereabouts and all of the information from the scene. Do not go after them I repeat do not follow Agents Mulder and Scully.'

'But Sir?' The agent started, stunned.

'That is an order!' Skinner shouted, and then slammed down the phone in frustration. He lifted a hand to his forehead and pulled off his glasses. He needed to figure out a way to get through to them so that they could trust him before they got themselves into more danger.


	11. Chapter 11

**HOT RIDE**

Scully checked the next roadsign as she passed it. She blinked as headlights flashed into her eyes. Mulder was finishing their last bottle of water.

'Hey Scully, did you want some water?' He asked, looking at the bottom of the bottle which held a tiny drop of water. She raised an eyebrow.

'Very funny.' She said, and turned into another side road trying to get off the radar a much as possible. 'Are you feeling ok?'

'I'm feeling better today.' Mulder said. She had checked on his bandages a few times today when they had stopped and he seemed to be healing well. They had been driving for over 8 hours and Scully was getting weary again. She needed to find the another place to stay.

Mulder started to drift off to sleep again and just as he was about to he suddenly was woken up with a large crash which erupted into his ears and he cried out in shock as the car suddenly was thrown over to the side of the road.

'Scully!' Mulder shouted out in shock and he turned to Scully who was madly trying to control the car, a look of shock all over her face.

'They're trying to run us off the road!' She shouted as a large black car similar to the one they were driving came into view in the window and crashed hard against Scully's side of the car again. She cried out in shock as the window smashed next to her and Mulder opened his eyes wide with shock as he saw the glass fall dangerously close to Scully's face.

'SCULLY!' Mulder cried out and she managed to get the car back on the road again as it skidded off to the side. He looked ahead and behind him to see what was going on. There was another black car behind them and it was getting nearer. It revved up and Mulder saw it coming towards them.

'Mulder!' Scully cried out, obviously frightened. He looked at her and saw that she was shaking. She looked lost. Mulder turned to her.

'Scully it's all right, just keep going!' He shouted to her reasurringly and she nodded. The car came towards them again and Mulder shouted out to Scully to swerve right. She swerved and the car just missed them. But then the car behind them smashed into the back of them and the back windscreen shattered. Scully screamed in shock as Mulder turned to look out the back in surprise. He saw a man with a furious look in his eyes looking straight at him. He turned back to Scully who was still looking shaken. He took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to handle this. But before he knew it the car at the side was coming towards them again, this time with too much speed for them to miss it. Mulder felt his insides turn with horror as he saw in his head what was going to happen.

'SCULLY!' Mulder cried out in despair and grabbed across her lap to the steering wheel himself and pulled it sharply to the right.

'Mulder what are you…' Scully cried out in shock, but it was too late, the car rammed into her side of the car and the door was pushed harshly inwards. Scully screamed in pain as the metal of the car crushed over her leg and the car was now out of control. Mulder gasped in shock as he saw Scully screaming.

'Scully! Scully push the brake down! Push down the brakes Scully!' He pleaded with her. He looked to her face which was grimacing in agony. 'Scully listen to me, you can do this! Put the brake pedal down!' She nodded quickly and Mulder suddenly felt the car brake suddenly. He was pushed forward in his seat and his seatbelt ripped against his wounds on his chest. Mulder cried out in pain as the car screeched to a horrible halt and skidded around in a circle.

'Mulder…' Scully said in a terrified whisper, and Mulder felt her fear and pain in her voice. He felt his heart skip a beat and he grabbed hold of her hand, waiting for the crash that would kill them both. The world seemed to still for a few seconds as the car spun around and they held hands, both taking refuge in each other in the last few seconds of their lives…

An Hour later

The two boys laughed together as they biked up the hill. They had been following each other for over two hours now, enjoying the nice weather. It was so deserted up the top of these hills that anyone could get lost in them for hours. The roads winded around the hills and over bare land for miles. They always enjoyed playing together at the weekend, when their parents let them cycle around. They giggled as one overtook the other.

'Hey Luke!' Tom called out to his brother as he smiled wickedly as he passed him. Luke laughed and tore off down the hill as the road wound round a corner. The bike was getting quicker now, and he put on the brakes just in case. His brother however, was now taking advantage of this and he careered off down the hill without using his brakes. Luke watched as his brother whizzed past and he smiled uneasily. He'd better be careful, these roads had some nasty bends.

'Hey Tom slow down! Remember what Mom said!' He called after him, and Tom slowed down a little as he turned another corner, going out of sight of Luke's eyes. Luke laughed, he'd done this a few times. Sometimes he hid around the corner and would jump out at his brother to scare him. That was usually his plan, but Luke got ready for it this time, and he slowly and carefully turned the corner.

But what he saw around the corner surprised him.

Luke frowned in confusion as he made his way around the corner and down the road, his brother wasn't there. He kept biking down the hill. He had usually jumped out by now. Surely?

'Tom?' Luke called out, but there was no answer. Luke frowned in worry now, he was usually out of hiding by now, or able to be seen. He wasn't that stupid surely?

'Tom?' He called again, but then cried out as his bike tyre went over something sharp and a small hissing sound erupted from his tyre. 'Dammit!' Luke exclaimed as he quickly jumped off his bike. 'A puncture? You've gotta be kidding me!' He said to himself angrily. Luke turned and pushed his bike backaways to see what he had driven over. There on the ground was a piece of metal which looked like it had been cut or hit out of place. It was feircely sharp around the edges and there was a sharp point at one end. Luke bent down to pick it up and he saw that one side was silver and the other black. He frowned in confusion.

'Tom?' He called out.

'Down here!'

Luke turned in surprise at the sound of his brothers voice. It was coming from behind the bushes. 'Tom? What are you doing?' Luke called out, walking towards the bushes.

'Luke you've gotta see this! Come down now!' Tom called out. Luke put his bike down on the grass at the side of the road and moved towards the bushes, but to his surprise there was a large section of the bush that had been pushed away. He frowned in confusion and walked into the bushes and through to an opening of trees. He looked down on the ground and saw deep tyre marks in the dried mud. Luke looked around and then down to the bottom of a small hill and then he saw what his brother had been talking about.

'Luke! Come on!'

Tom was motioning for Luke to come down, and Luke ran towards his brother. When he reached him they both stared at the sight in front of them.

'Do you think anybody knows about this?' Luke asked, and Tom shook his head.

'I don't know, but its pretty cool huh?' Tom said with a grin. Luke however, felt a bit uneasy at the sight.

'Is anyone in the car?' Luke asked, staring at the smashed black car. Tom shook his head.

'I doubt it!'

'No, we have to check I…' Luke said, making his way to the front of the car, but he was stopped dead in his tracks when he saw some red hair pushed against the steering wheel. He looked more carefully and he could see a woman, leaning against the steering wheel and unmoving. He felt his heart start to beat quicker and then he looked across from her and there was a man lying against the seat, with his eyes closed. 'TOM!' He shouted to his brother in shock. 'There's two people in the front! We have to get help!'

**THE NEWS**

Skinner sighed heavily as he saw the phone on his desk, unringing. He was racking his brain for an idea, a thought, something that he could use to get Mulder and Scully back safely. He looked at his desk drawer and pulled it open to see the note which he had received about Mulder's mother. It made him want to rip it up in anger. He had no idea how to handle it, to believe or not to believe it. He hated all these mad goose chases.

He angrily clenched the letter in his fist and it crumpled up into a ball. Skinner close his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to control his anger. He had to think of something fast.

'Sir?'

Skinner jumped as his receptionist poked her head through the door. Skinner tried to look like he was working hard and he sat up in his chair quickly and started to shift through some files.

'Yes?' He asked.

'Sir, theres been a reporting of a car crash near Nevada.' She started, Skinner saw the sympathetic look on her face and he knew exactly what was coming. He swallowed nervously and waited for the words.

'Y- Yes?'

'It was a black sedan with a woman and a male inside. The woman is reported to have red hair and the man, tall and dark.' The receptionist said in a low tone. She didn't know quite how to tell him.

'It's them.' Skinner said, fear growing in his body. He looked at her with wide eyes, expecting more.

'I'm sorry Sir, theres no other information. I have the coordinates for you though.' She said sympathetically, and Skinner nodded and rose from his seat.

'Thank you Shelley.' He said quietly, and walked briskly out of his office.


	12. Chapter 12

Mulder felt the world spin around him, he heard men talking all around him and then a sound of a woman's voice.. Scully? He had no idea where he was. He tried deperately to open his eyes but it just wouldn't happen. He frowned in annoyance as the voices got more clear in his ears. They seemed to be talking about medical procedures. Mulder suddenly felt a surge of pain in his head and in his chest. He remembered what had happened, it all came rushing back to him suddenly. Mulder remembered the cars folllowing them and how they had come crashing into Scully's side of the car…

Mulder felt his eyes slowly open and his sight was blurry. He heard the voices get louder and people were asking his name. He swallowed heavily and tried to work out where he was, was he in hospital? It took him a few minutes to get full view of his surroundings and he found himself looking up into the eyes of a young nurse. Mulder sighed heavily.

'I…' He started.

'Agent Mulder, it's all right, you're in hopsital. You've had a nasty car accident but you're going to be all right just stay lying still and I'll get one of the doctors.' She said, and then left him briskly. Mulder felt the pain hit him hard and he felt dizzy. After a few moments which seemed to last for hours a doctor came into his sight and started checking on him.

'How are you feelin Mr Mulder?' The doctor asked.

'I… where's Scully..' Mulder rasped in a weak voice.

'Miss Scully? She's erm…' The doctor paused and Mulder felt his stomach tie in knots. What was his uncertainty about?

'What?' Mulder demanded as loud as he could.

'Miss Scully was badly injured Mr Mulder, the car door crushed her right leg and she's currently in the operating theatre, we're sure that she is going to be all right though, don't you worry.' The doctor said in a voice which seemed to confident to be true and Mulder felt his heart skip a beat in horror.

'Crushed?' He asked in a small voice.

'It's all right Agent Mulder, she's going to be fine. Now just relax now.' The doctor said, more forcefully this time. Mulder frowned in worry and frustration as he tried to move but it was impossible with the pain.

'You.. you have to get in contact with Assistant Director Walter.. Walter Skinner at the FBI.' Mulder said weakly, and the doctor nodded.

'He's already on his way here. Now close your eyes because you need to rest more.' The doctor said and Mulder found himself close his eyes in dizziness and he swallowed again. He felt his heart ring out for Scully with worry. He was also very aware that they were now in more danger than ever being this exposed in a busy hospital. He had to do something… he had to… _as soon as I can move… _

After a short flight to the hospital Skinner had got to the hospital by taxi. He checked his watch and realised that he had been travelling for about three hours. Frowning with worry he walked up the steps to the large metal doors to the entrance of the hospital. Small drops of rain started to come down from the sky. He pushed the heavy doors open and he erupted into a busy work space where Doctors and nurses were milling around with files and certain equipment.

'I'm looking for Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI I'm their Assistant Director?' Skinner said to the receptionist who was deeply engrossed in work on her computer. Skinner waited for a moment when she checked her computer and then she looked up at him.

'Agent Scully has just come out of the operating theatre and Agent Mulder is in room 56. You can go see him. Hes asked to see you.' She said, and pointed Skinner in the right direction. Skinner nodded and walked down the corridor to room 56. He looked through the window to see Mulder sitting in an upright position and staring out of the window. He sighed and then opened the door to see Mulder turn to watch him come in.

'Sir.' Mulder said with a small smile. Skinner walked towards him.

'I guess you already know how worried we've all been about you back at the FBI.' Skinner said and put his hands in his pockets.

'Well Skin man it's nice to know that the community cares.' Mulder said with a sarcastic grin. Skinner took a deep breath.

'Mulder, what's going on. You've got to tell me.' He said in a low voice and there was a silence between the two of them.

'Well…' Mulder took a deep breath, 'Krycek came to my apartment two nights ago.' Skinner's mouth opened wide in shock and strarted to speak but Mulder stopped him. 'He told me that my mother was still alive. Of course I didn't believe him and I told him to go and stuff himself. Anyway, the next day I told Agent Scully because she was concerned about me. Then, as we went to the car park to take the afternoon off as he told you were were going to do, I was attacked in the men's toilets and captured by men. They then knocked me out and took me away. They tortured me and used Agent Scully as bait to get me back. After making her drive for hours they left me in the road and made her come to find me. They then turned their fire onto her and she had to defend herself and me and in doing so she killed the men. She saved my life Sir.' Mulder said in a low voice and kept eye contact with Skinner to prove Scully's actions.

Mulder went on to tell him what happened afterwards in the ambulance and after they had met up with Skinner. He then told him why Scully didn't answer his calls and why they had kept quiet. Mulder now looked at him with serious eyes.

'Sir, Scully and I are more at risk now than we were before. We're in a public place, they're going to be here, if they arent already.' Mulder said. Skinner was now feeling nervous himself. There was a long silence between the two of them while they wondered what to do. Skinner broke it.

'I'll get guards in front of Scully's room and check around. But Mulder,' Skinner started and Mulder looked at him. 'You can't go anywhere. You need to recover.'

'Sir, I'm fine. I'm ready to leave here in a few hours, it's Scully who needs the rest and medical attention. She's a lot worse off than I am…' Mulder started and felt sadness fill his chest. He lowered his eyes and Skinner could see his concern. 'I haven't seen her yet. I have no idea if she's all right or not.'

'I'll go and check on her now.' Skinner said sincerely and Mulder nodded thankfully. Skinner made his way to the door and then made his way out and towards the nearest doctor.

**RATHER BE DEAD**

Alex Krycek watched as people walked in and out of the hospital doors and he sighed deeply. His eyes were piercing into that door, waiting Walter to come out again. He had seen him enter, it was obvious they were in there and seeing as he hadn't exited in the last few minutes, they were still alive.

'When do we take action?' A voice from the back growled.

'Not yet. We need to wait for the right time.' Krycek said.

'He said we needed to deal with them once and for all. They were supposed to be killed earlier, and last night and the night before.' The voice said, now sounding nervous and high strung.

'We'll sort it out ok?' Krycek said forcefully. 'We need to just wait for the best time. Agent Scully is likely to be more hurt than Mulder, we can kill her when Mulder is out of the picture. We need to use the mother.'

'The mother? How are we going to get that to work?'

'We'll get her to distract him and lead him away. Then we'll show him what he's been waiting for his whole life.' Krycek said in a low voice.

'Alex, this had better work.' The man said in the back and Krycek nodded.

'Oh it'll work. It's the last god damn job I'm going to do for that cigarette smoking son of a bitch before he'll let me go alone. I _need_ this to work. I've had my orders, to make Mulder feel like he'd _rather be dead._' Krycek said, anger boiling in his blood. He turned to look at the hospital door again, waiting for the moment to take action and get his revenge. Krycek slowly reached into his jacket and felt the cold metal of his gun barrel on his fingers and smiled in satisfaction.


	13. Chapter 13

**MIND GAMES**

Skinner held his head in his hands as he waited in the hospital corridor. So many thoughts were running through his brain. He wondered what to do about the information he had heard about Mulder's mother. He didn't know what to do. Should he tell Mulder now? Skinner felt like he had a right to know, now that so much had happened, there was hardly any choice. But Skinner knew deep down that it would probably spur Mulder off into the wrong direction, get him crazed and then make him chase after rumours into the unknown and get himself into grave danger. Skinner sighed heavily as he looked back at Scully's room. She had broken her leg in three places and was still asleep from the operation. She wasn't likely to be going anywhere. Skinner slowly pulled his hands down from his head and closed his eyes. The sounds of the hospital filled his ears and then suddenly he jumped as a hand was put on his shoulder.

'Walter Skinner?'

Skinner looked up to see a nurse looking down at him with sympathetic eyes. Skinner shifted and got rose from his feet.

'Yes?' He asked.

'Agent Scully is going to be waking up in the next few minutes.' She said and Skinner nodded.

'I think that her partner, Agent Mulder would like to be with her when she wakes up.' Skinner said to the nurse.

'Mr Mulder? The man in room 56?' She asked with a puzzled expression. Skinner nodded.

'Yes.'

'Oh all right, I'll see if I can get him a wheelchair.' She said with a small smile and went off to the direction of Mulder's room. Skinner nodded and then sat back down slowly but then was disturbed again by the sound of heavy feet coming towards him. He looked up and saw the guards he had ordered. Skinner stood up and greeted them and then told them their orders. They understood and got into place, their guns at the ready if anything happened.

**HEARING THE SOUND OF YOUR BREATH**

Mulder stared down at Scully and saw her sleeping soundly. He felt a bit uncomfortable in his wheelchair and he shifted uneasily but then winced in pain as his chest throbbed. He turned back to her and saw the drips and medical equipment working around her. He shook his head in sadness and felt angry tears rise in his throat. He wanted to kill those bastards. After everything that they had been through in the last two days Scully had probably had the worse. She had looked after him and protected him with her life. He wasn't surprised she had been asleep for so long.

Mulder looked down at her arms and saw the heavy bruises on her right side. Luckily he was on her left and he slowly reached to take her hand sadly. He looked down at her sleeping face and saw her chest rising and falling softly. She felt warm, so that was a good sign.

After a few minutes, Mulder saw the slightest bit of movement come from her face as her eyes seemed to ficker. Mulder sat up in surprise, a little too quickly, but he didn't care. He squeezed her hand gently to let her know that someone was with her.

'Scully?' He asked gently and she moved a little again and he saw her frowning in confusion. He knew how that felt. He put his other hand over his and frowned with concern as she slowly blinked and opened her eyes.

'Hey Scully. It's me.' He said gently as she slowly looked around to him. He felt his stomach fill with sympathy as she saw how sad her eyes were. She looked so weak and fragile. 'Hey.' He said gently with a grin. She didn't grin back however, but looked at him with desperate eyes. 'We're in a hospital, Skinner is here. I'm fine and you're going to be fine too, but you need more rest than I do.' He said with another grin and slowly reached up to stroke her cheek gently. Scully closed her eyes sleepily as he touched her and she sighed. Mulder wanted to scoop her up in his arms and hold her and tell her she was going to be all right but he knew that he couldn't. The best he could do was comfort her gently.

'Mu.. Mulder.' She whispered and frowned. Mulder titled his head to one side and frowned with concern.

'I've got guards outside your room Scully, it's going to be fine. I'm not going to let anything else happen to us.' He said softly and she closed her eyes sleepily. After a few moments she took a deep breath.

'What's happened to me?' She asked dreamily and Mulder explained. Scully seemed to take the news well and with no surprise. 'I remember the car door crushing down on my leg.' She said slowly and Mulder nodded, uncertain of what to say. 'Mulder, what are we going to do?' She said in a low voice. Mulder took a deep breath and lowered his head to try and think of the words.

'First of all you're going to stay here and recover. I'm going to make sure no one comes or goes from this room except Skinner and the doctors. When I'm better I'm going to find them Scully. I'm going to kill those sons of bitches.' He said, anger firing in his chest. Scully turned back to him with frightened eyes. He knew this was coming.

'No.. No Mulder…' She said weakly but Mulder raised her and gently and kissed it.

'Scully, I'm going to be all right.' He said softly, but she stared at him with wide eyes. 'I'm not going to let them get away with this.'

There was a long silence between the two friends and Scully suddenly felt a pang of guilt inside of her and she didn't know whether to tell Mulder or not. She felt like she had to.

'Mulder…' She started weakly and he waited. But she didn't carry on.

'What?' He asked gently, concered.

'Mulder theres, theres something that I haven't told you…' She said in a low voice and Mulder felt a flutter of panic in his stomach.

'What?' He asked gently. Scully had turned away from him.

'Skinner told me something… something when we saw him… ask him.' She said weakly, and then to Mulder's surprise she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep again. Mulder frowned in confusion and felt is mind racing. _What the hell?_

'Have you got something to tell me Sir?'

Skinner turned around in surprise and saw Mulder standing outside Scully's room. Skinner frowned in surprise and concern and took quick steps towards him.

'Mulder are you supposed to be on your feet?' Skinner asked.

'Tell me what you told Scully.' Mulder butted in angrily clearly ignoring him. Skinner looked up at him with worried eyes. He saw the desperation and anger in Mulders eyes as he looked at him. He waited for a few moments while his mind raced for a moment.

'Mulder, please believe me I told Scully because I was confused myself and I…' Skinner started.

'TELL me.' Mulder nearly shouted and Skinner stopped. He nodded and sighed heavily. 'May be you should sit down for this.'

'Cut the crap.' Mulder said in annoyance. Skinner shrugged helplessly. Suddenly Mulder realised. 'It's about my mother isnt it.' He said with a nod. Mulder let out a small laugh. 'Of course, it's about my mother. I knew it.'

'Now Mulder, it's probably false…' Skinner said, putting his hands up to Mulder and Mulder ignored him.

'Tell me everything, and start from the beginning.' Mulder said forcefully and Skinner realised that he was defeated. He sighed heavily and nodded.

'I got a note that your mother has been seen alive.' Skinner blurted out. There was a long silence between the two of them.

'A note?' Mulder started.

'A note.' Skinner confirmed quickly. 'It's probably just another mind game to lure you to them Mulder, please don't act on this, think about this rationally…' Skinner pleaded, but to his horror Mulder was looking over his head and down the corridor in thought. Skinner felt panic rise in his stomach. _He's thinking about leaving and walking out the door_ .

'Look Mulder, you've got to remember the risks that you have come across…' Skinner started, but to his surprise Mulder was holding a hand up and telling him to stop. Skinner raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked up to see Mulder's gaze. He frowned in confusion and turned to see where Mulder was looking. Skinner saw down the corridor a man standing in the doorway with his head lowered and with a long dark coat on.

'Is that one of our guys?' Mulder asked in a sceptical voice.

But Skinner knew it wasn't, and he was already running towards him and reaching into his jacket for his gun…

Skinner ran towards the front door of the hospital and he saw the man turn towards him. His icy glare ran right through Skinner. Skinner brought his gun out of his jacket and pointed it at the man's head, but the man was already out of the door and running towards the wood surroundings. Skinner caught sight of a white car parked at the edge of the car park with its doors open. Skinner ran towards the car and pointed his gun into the front and back seats which were empty. He shouted out in frustration and ran into the clearing of the woods and felt the misty air fill his lungs. He scanned around but couldn't see anything. He'd lost him. 'Dammit!' Skinner exclaimed angrily, and turned in frustration to exit the woods. He grabbed his cell phone just as three of the guards came running out to the car park and towards him.

'There's a man on the run, start a search around the perimeter! Now!' Skinner shouted, and the men darted off in different directions with their guns held high. When they were gone Skinner looked around the open space and frowned in thought and frustration.

**BYE BYE**

Scully felt hot tears lace her throat and they fell heavily out of her tired eyes. Mulder was holding onto her hand and she was going to have to let him go, he wasn't going to refuse. He'd heard the news from Skinner and now he was going to leave and seek it. Scully knew how badly he wanted the truth, how badly this news had affected him. She felt her leg aching and she cried hot tears as he told her that this is what he had to do and he leant over to kiss her on the cheek. Scully sobbed and tried not to let go of his hand and she begged him not to go, begged him to stay with her, but she knew that she had no choice. She was in no fit manner to physically stop him. Skinner was outside, and the guards were outside the door now. Mulder reached over and brushed tears away from her cheeks and she looked deep into his eyes. Her stomach burned with love and emotion for him.

'Scully. You have to let me go and find my mother. I'll be back, I promise.' He said gently, and Scully swallowed hard to try and pull herself together. A small relaxed smile spread over his face and Scully felt a little calmer. Although she felt worried sick for his life, she also felt proud of his bravery. It was one of those times when she was just going to have to trust his judgement.

'I'll be fine.' He said gently, and then to Scully's despair and heart break, he let go of her hand and moved towards the window.

'Mulder..' Scully gasped in between sobs, and he climbed out of the open window and jumped down onto the grassy turf outside. Scully felt her heart skip a beat as she feared that this was the last time that she would see him…

Skinner ran back into the hospital corridor and immediately sensed something was wrong. Scully's room door was open and nurses and doctors were hurrying in and out of the room and into Mulder's corridor. Skinner frowned in confusion and rushed towards Scully's room. He took one look at the guards to know that something had happened. Without question he burst into Scully's room and looked at her.

Skinner's heart skipped a beat in fear as he saw her red and puffy eyes. Her cheeks were glistening with tears and her head was turned to the window. Skinner frowned as he saw that the window was open and a breeze was pushing the curtains away from it. He looked back at Scully who was now looking at him and she was clearly distressed. Skinner swallowed nervously.

'Sir…' Scully gasped desperately. 'Mulder's gone.'


	14. Chapter 14

**WILD GOOSE CHASE**

Mulder ran deeper into the wood as fast as his tired body would carry him. Although he was still aching from his injuries, his legs were still working well. He needed to get out and find his mother, he needed to find the men responsible.

Suddenly Mulder frowned in surprise at himself. Why was he believing all of this? Was he really that convinced he could find his mother in these woods? What the hell was he thinking? He kept running blindly into the trees as his head was spinning in confusion. He couldn't explain it, but he knew she was around here somewhere and the men who would lead her to him were also nearby. He could sense it. As soon as he had warned Skinner about the man in the hall he had known. He had decided to go for it. What did he have to loose?

_Your life you stupid dumbass.._. Mulder thought to himself. He quickly pushed the thought away and picked up his speed. Now he had started there was no turning back now. There was no time to give up and walk back to the hospital, the men would find him anyway. Mulder took a deep breath as the oxygen flowed in and out of his lungs and he saw sunlight glint through the trees. Then suddenly, there was a sound of a gun being clicked into place.

'STOP RIGHT THERE AGENT MULDER.' A voice roared to his left. Mulder suddenly felt himself freeze on the spot and he felt the breath go in and escape him quickly, his lungs now rasping for air. He felt a little dizzy from his sudden stop. 'That's it. Don't move or you'll get a bullet to your head.' The low voice drawled.

Mulder frowned in thought as he heard the thick Russian accent. He looked around him warily and then saw a man coming towards him with a gun pointed to his head. Mulder took a deep breath to calm himself. 'Hands up to your head! Now!' The voice demanded, and Mulder obliged. The man pointed the gun down to the floor and back up again. 'Get down to the ground.'

Mulder frowned in confusion at the man, and he didn't approve. 'ON YOUR KNEES!' The man roared angrily and took a sharp step towards Mulder and Mulder quickly obliged nervously and went down to his knees. The Russian then grabbed Mulder's hands and he felt them beind clicked into cold handuffs. Mulder took a deep breath and steadied himself. He now had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

'Good. Now, call out your mother's name three times.' The Russian said in a low voice. Mulder suddenly felt his heart skip a beat in shock. His eyes opened wide and he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

'I… I…' He managed, but then felt the cold barrel of the gun hit his neck.

'DO IT!' The Russian warned forcefully and Mulder closed his eyes and bit his lower lip in fear as he knew that he wasn't going to put up with any funny business. Mulder nodded slowly and regretfully he felt his stomach turn with uncertainty. He had no idea what to expect. He slowly opened his eyes again and got ready to call out for his dead mother.

'Mom?' He cried out into the wood. His voice echoed over the wood and the Russian pushed the gun into his neck harder and made Mulder wince in pain. 'Mom.' Mulder called again and then scanned the area. What the hell was this about? 'Mom?' He called for the last time, louder this time. He heard some birds fly out of their nests and up into the sky as his voice echoed around. And they waited. They waited for a few moments which to Mulder felt like hours. He looked around the area in front of him desperately, getting ready for anything.

And then suddenly there she was, coming towards him out of the woods, moving as if she was a figure of his imagination, her face as white as a sheet and her face expressionless.

Mulder gasped in shock and felt his heart beat race wildly. Suddenly he was overcome with a feeling sorrow and relief and he felt tears rush to his eyes. The Russian still stood his ground behind him and Mulder felt himself start to shake as his mother walked towards him slowly. He couldn't beleve it, how was she still alive?

But his confusion didn't last long as there was a sudden bang which rang through his ears and then he was plunged into a deep darkness.

**WE MEET AGAIN**

'Hello again Agent Mulder, its nice to see you've finally woken up…'

Mulder blinked blindly as he slowly came around. The first thing he noticed was that he was thirsty, so thirsty. Mulder coughed and felt his heavy lungs rise and fall painfully. He slowly forced his eyes open and the bright lights of the room stung his eyes as he looked around. As they slowly began to focus he came face to face with the face that matched the voice, someone whom he had wished that he would never have to see again.

'You. You smoking son of a…' Mulder raged, and tried to move towards the man, but cried out in shock as he realised that he couldn't move. Mulder cried out in frustration and fear as he felt that he couldn't move his limbs. He was now terrified. 'HEY! What have you done to me?!' He cried out and the smoking man lit a cigarette and brought it to his lips. Mulder then slowly came to realise that he was lying on his back on some kind of table and the smoking man was looking down on him.

'Now, now Fox. Lets not get too excited now.' He started in his patronising 'calm' tone. He blew smoke out of his lips and it swilled into the air. 'You're here for a reason and I don't want to keep you here for long, just until I have got the news out of you. If you don't tell me, you could make this very difficult for yourself.' He said. Mulder frowned in frustration and anger.

'WHY CAN'T I MOVE YOU BASTARD?' Mulder roared.

'We've drugged you so that you can't escape.' The smoking man said simply. He let out a small laugh.

'Let me out of here!' Mulder cried out and struggled to move. He grunted in frustration when he realised there was no humanly way possible he could get free.

He was stuck there…

**Back at the hospital**

Skinner sighed heavily as Scully sniffed a tear away from her eyes. She was so angry with herself and with Mulder, but she couldn't help feeling great concern for him. She knew that he would have gone off anyway, there was no question about it. She just wished that she hadn't told him the news about his Mother now…

'Dana, this was bound to happen. Don't blame yourself. I've got agents all around the perimeter looking for him, and we are going to find him.' Skinner said in a confident voice. Scully felt her heart break into a million pieces. She felt something wasn't right here, something wasn't right at all. Why would Mulder not be found in the woods? He couldn't have been running that fast with his injuries, and the agents had surrouned the exits of the wood. He had to be there somewhere. It was like he had just… disappeared.

'Sir…' Scully managed to blurt out. 'Mulder went looking for his mother, in the woods.' She said sadly. Skinner nodded. 'He could have gone anywhere, he could have bumped into one of those men you saw outside, he could have… oh Sir I…' Scully started sadly, but tears were coating her throat, 'Sir I… I fear that Mulder isn't mentally stable…' She blurted out in sorrow and lowered her head sadly. She closed her eyes and tried to stop the tears from pouring down her cheeks. She felt so helpless and useless, and like this was all her fault. She couldn't help feeling guilty for letting him go… letting him leave…

'Dana, there was nothing you could have done.' Skinner said in a sympathetic tone and put a friendly hand on Scully's. Scully didn't move. 'We're going to find him, don't worry. He can't have gone far.'

But something inside Scully's mind warned her that Skinner was very, very wrong.


	15. Chapter 15

**EXPLANATION**

'Why the hell have you got me here!' Mulder shouted to the smoking man. He looked down at him with calm eyes and an unforgiving glare. Mulder was so angry at the man's manner. He was always looking so calm as if he'd never done anything wrong.

'You have heard some news that you weren't supposed to hear, and I need to take action, to hide the truth.' The smoking man said and took another puff from his cigarette. Did he ever stop smoking?

'The truth? I don't even know what that is anymore!' Mulder blurted out with a small laugh at the crazy situation. 'Is my mother here?' He suddenly demanded, remembering. The smoking man didn't answer and Mulder felt anger rage inside him. 'IS SHE HERE?'

'That is what I need to talk to you about Mulder, but you need to calm down first.' The smoking man said and Mulder let out another disbelieving laugh.

'You expect me to calm down? Do you have any idea what I've been through in the last three days?' He said incredulously, and then changed his tone, 'That was you wasn't it, that was all you. You've been trying to kill me and Scully for two days.. well guess what, you've got me now, so go ahead and shoot me!' Mulder shouted and the smoking man seemed to ignore him. Mulder wanted to spit in his face. 'That's right, you coward. You'd never be able to kill me.' Mulder scoffed and the smoking man raised an eyebrow.

'Really Fox, you're making this far too complicated.' He joked. Mulder sighed heavily and closed his eyes wishing he was somewhere else. 'Now listen to me, I didn't want it to come to this. But information was leaked and some people wanted you and Scully dead. People that I work with.' He said slowly and took a long puff from his cigarette. Mulder opened his eyes in surprise. 'Believe me Fox, you and Agent Scully are far too important to kill..' He started, and put his cigarette out in the ash tray next to him. 'However,' He started, and Mulder suddenly felt nervous, 'Some things, I cannot control.' He said in a mock sensitive tone, and Mulder caught his eye. Mulder frowned in confusion.

'What the hell is that supposed to mean?' Mulder asked angrily, but there was no reply. He felt his stomach tie in knots.

'Fox. Alex Krycek came to see you in your home, and he told you that your mother was still alive, didn't he?' The smoking man asked, lighting up again. Mulder frowned in fury and took a deep breath.

'Yes.' He replied in a low tone.

'Well, let me tell you now. Krycek had been fooled. Your mother, Agent Mulder, is dead.' The smoking man said in a serious tone, and took a long drag of his cigarette. Mulder couldn't help feeling disappointed, but he knew that it had most probably been false from the start. However he had, at one point, believed it. Mulder took a deep breath and felt emotion rise in his throat.

'Then who was that in the woods.' Mulder started. 'Who was she?'

'That…' The smoking man started, in a tone of voice that warned Mulder, 'was a hybrid that we made out of your mother's DNA.'

Mulder felt as if the world was standing still. He felt his heart skip a beat and he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

'She was a failure.' The smoking man continued, and Mulder closed his eyes in disbelief. 'No hybrid has ever been a success since Cassandra…' He said, and his voice trailed off as he took another puff. Mulder felt angry tears fill his eyes and there was a long silence.

'What gives you the right…' Mulder finally blurted out.

'This is exactly why I didn't want you to know Agent Mulder. I knew that it would upset you.' The smoking man said simply as he blew out his smoke.

'You made a clone… you made a clone out of my mother's DNA?' Mulder said in disbelief. 'What the hell did you do to it? Did you burn it like all the others you son of a bitch!' Mulder said, shouting now. The smoking man didn't answer, which made him more angry. 'What makes you think that I'm going to believe you!?' He shouted desperately. 'Why the hell are you telling me this!'

'Because you deserve to know the truth Fox.'

'Oh, oh that's great!' Mulder scoffed. 'Oh really? Well that's great coming from you!' Mulder said sarcastically, anger boiling inside of him.

'Krycek was desperate to anger me, to ruin the plans. He contacted your Assistant Director to get the message through. Little did he know how wrong he was.' The smoking man said and puffed out a long line of smoke. It was starting to make Mulder feel wheezy.

'Well what about the men that kidnapped me and tortured me! What the hell was that about?' Mulder shouted.

'None of that was my orders Agent Mulder…'

'Oh like hell it wasn't!' Mulder snapped. The smoking man sighed heavily and there was an awkward silence.

'The thing is, people like Alex Krycek are so paranoid that they will try to make mountains out of molehills. When you got wind of the plan, my men had no other choice but to order your deaths.' He said.

Mulder couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'The car crash was supposed to kill you both, no question. However, luckily you two survived. But the point is now…' He started, serious now. The smoking man leaned over and looked Mulder right in the eyes. Mulder felt fear grow in his stomach. 'Alex Krycek was ordered to take out your deaths, and he has failed. I should have killed him for telling you about the plan. But people like Krycek are too precious to be got rid of, don't you think Agent Mulder?' He asked playfully, knowing full well that Mulder wasn't going to answer. Mulder felt his lip tremble with anger. 'But the order hasn't been cancelled Mulder. Krycek is still out there, getting ready to kill you and…. _Scully_….' The smoking man said, and slowed down as he said her name.

He looked deep into Mulder's eyes knowingly and suddenly it all fell into place. Mulder felt his heart skip a beat and he opened his eyes wide in shock. He glared at the smoking man with a look of hate and nearly spat the words into his face.

'_You son of a bitch.' _ Mulder seethed through his teeth. 'If she dies I swear to god I'll..'

'What?' The smoking man butted in. 'Kill me? Fox, I told you, it's not my orders. I wanted to deal with this in a peaceful fashion, I wanted to show you myself.'

'WELL YOU'RE NOT TRYING VERY HARD TO STOP IT NOW ARE YOU!' Mulder shouted, now infuriated and mad with worry for Scully. He needed to get out of there, he needed to go and help her, warn her. Mulder desperately tried to move again but failed. He shouted out in frustration.

'Fox, you know you can't leave…'

'WHY THE HELL ARE YOU KEEPING ME HERE!' Mulder shouted into his face.

'It was the only way that you would stay and hear me out.' The smoking man said simply and turned away from him. Mulder felt his heart race with anger and fear.

'Like hell it was! You make out you're this victorious hero but you keep me here and you let Krycek kill Scully! Well congratulations you cigarette smoking son of a bitch you let me hear you out but now I've worked you out, you can't fool me any longer!' Mulder shouted as the smoking man turned and started towards the door. Mulder felt like he was going to explode.

'You don't care if I die, YOU DON'T CARE IF SCULLY DIES! All you care about is your work!' Mulder shouted and the smoking man finally stopped and turned back to him. Mulder felt his chest rising up and down as he breathed heavily in frustration. Hot beats of sweat were collecting on his forehead. There was a long silence and the smoking man slowly started to walk towards him.

'You're right.' He said simply, and took a long drag of his cigarette and Mulder glared up at him in fury. 'You're right Agent Mulder.' He said, and then turned away from him again. Mulder frowned in confusion and then to his horror he saw the smoking man open the door. Mulder already knew what was coming, but for it actually to happen it made him feel sick.

Doctors in white protective clothing came into the room and started to surround the table he was lying on. They all glared down at him and Mulder knew what was coming. He was going to be used as a guinea pig, just like Scully had, just like Cassandra, just like Marita and just like his Mother. Mulder suddenly felt himself started to shake in fear as a doctor slowly raised a large syringe.

'SCULLY!' He cried out desperately as the doctors closed in on him and began their work.

**THINK OF SOMETHING DANA, THINK**

Scully jumped as the hospital room door swung open. She turned in fear but then calmed as she saw Skinner standing there. She let out a long breath and was surprised at how jumpy she had gotten.

'Sir?' She asked as he came towards her. His face was expressionless and she couldn't read him. She frowned in wonder. 'Sir, what's happening?'

'We can't find Mulder anywhere.' He said in a small voice. Scully could tell that he felt guilty. She sighed and lowered her head sadly. 'We've looking everywhere, there's no sign of him.'

'Ok.' Scully said, and felt tears coat her throat. She couldn't help but fear the worst.

'There is one thing though…' Skinner started, and Scully raised her head in surprise.

'Y-yes Sir?' She asked uncertainly.

'There is an empty car in the parking lot, the doors were open when I ran out, like someone had ran away before I got there. Like someone was hiding.' Skinner said, looking at Scully's tired face. He saw how worn out she looked and felt so sorry for her. Her normally neat hairstyle was messed and her hair had lost its vibrant colour.

'Have you got fingerprints from the steering wheel?' She asked in a hurry. Scully was suddenly starting to find some hope in her. If only they could find out who these men were…

'No.' Skinner said unhappily, and she felt the hope in her chest fall suddenly like a ton of bricks. 'There were no finger prints. I'm sorry Dana.' He said sympathetically, and Scully nodded, accepting the bad news. She frowned in thought.

_Think of something Dana, think…_


	16. Chapter 16

**Two Days Later**

Scully looked out of her hospital room window sadly and felt her head start to bang with pain. She had such a bad headache. She'd had it for the last few days, contastly keeping her awake and making her feel nauseous. However inside she knew what was really wrong, and it broke her heart to be reminded of it. But she was always being reminded of it, it wouldn't go away. Every time she thought of him she had an attack of nausea and yesterday she'd been sick when Skinner had told her the updates. There was still no sign of him, and people were starting to fear the worst.

Scully closed her eyes as she took a deep breath of frustration. If she was able to walk then she would be out of this place looking for Mulder herself, but she couldn't, and the thought of that made her sick. It was as if she was feeling responsible that Mulder hadn't been found. She knew that she was the most likely person to find him, and it broke her heart that she couldn't do anything. Scully blinked and hot tears rose to her eyes. She felt like she'd never stopped crying in the last few days, like it was never going to stop.

She heard a knock on the door and she turned in surprise. 'Come in.' She said in a small voice, and Scully felt her heart lift as she saw the woman coming in to see her. She felt the hot tears fall freely from her eyes as she knew that she couldn't hide from her mother, no matter how hard she tried.

Scully was tired, so tired, and her mother being there in that hospital room with her made all her defenses falter. 'Mom?' Scully gushed sadly as her mother came towards her with open arms. Scully felt her mother grab her and pull her into her soft embrace lovingly and Scully was overwhelmed with the comfort and she let out a sob. Her mother didn't let her go or question her as Scully cried into her shoulder desperately. Margaret held her daughter tight as she felt her sadness and was just grateful that she was all right…

Mulder blinked as the light above him shone brightly above him. He felt it sting his eyes as he slowly opened them. He tried to move again but he couldn't, he was still there, stuck to the table. Mulder groaned in pain as he felt the injection marks in his arms and he remembered the tests they had done on him. He winced in fear as he wondered where those men were. Were they coming back for him? He didn't know anymore. They had come in and out so often that he could never be sure when they would be there, when they would hurt him again…

Mulder cried out desperately for Scully. He couldn't believe that he hadn't been found yet, he was scared now, very scared. What was going to happen to him? He didn't even know what day it was or how long he'd been there. He winced as he felt the pain in his body pang again and he felt dizzy from the lights. He couldn't remember the last time he was given food or water. He couldn't go on like this… not for much longer… he just couldn't…

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

'Agent Dana Scully? You can come in now.'

The board of directors sat in a long line and looked at her as she entered with dark sympathetic eyes. They watched as she briskly made her way across the room and she kept her head low, hiding her eyes from them. Skinner sat with his hand to his mouth, he didn't know how to handle the situation, he didn't know if he could let this happen.

'Sit down please Agent Scully.' A man said and she made her way to the chair and sat. Skinner felt his stomach turn as he saw her face. There was no expression.

'Agent Scully we have brought you here today to discuss the letter that you have handed into us.' The man said, raising one eyebrow. Scully didn't flinch apart from blinking. Skinner wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He couldn't handle this.

'Scully, you're a good agent…' Skinner found himself blurting out, and the other directors turned to look at him with questioning eyes. Skinner didn't care though. He felt like he was going to explode. He looked at Scully and saw that she was looking sideways at him for a moment. He saw the sadness in her eyes and he sighed heavily. There was a long silence as she held his gaze for a moment and then looked away.

'Agent Scully we are confused at your letter. You say that you have lost your way and that you feel you can't contribute anymore to the FBI is that right?' The man asked. Scully was silent for a few more moments and then she finally spoke up.

'Yes Sir.' She said in a low, timid voice. Skinner hardly recognised her. He took off his glasses and rubbed his nose in frustration.

'Now listen Agent Scully, you are a brilliant Agent…' A woman now started, and Scully met her gaze and then turned away quickly. This was obviously starting to get to her. Skinner frowned in annoyance at the whole situation.

'Please, I have made my decision…' Scully started desperately and her voice was wavering.

'-Agent Scully, you haven't given us good enough reason to accept your resignation from the FBI.' The man stated and Scully looked up in surprise. Skinner could see that her eyes were glistening with tears. He sighed heavily and tried to control himself.

'Haven't given you enough_… reason_ Sir?' Scully asked incredulously, and raised an eyebrow questioningly. The board of directors were silent, as they tried to think of how to act. Scully bit her lower lip and felt the tears coming again. She hadn't wanted it to go this far.

'Agent Scully…' The woman said, breaking the awkward silence. 'You are a fantastic Agent and we need you here in the FBI…'

'I'm a fantastic Agent?' Scully butted in with a sharp voice. Skinner jumped at her tone and he could tell that she was very worked up. 'Since when have I been one of your prize Agents?' Scully went on, and looked at the directors like they were mad. She felt her body start to shake with anger. 'In the past few years I have been told that I have been _slipping._ That I wasn't _doing my job properly_, that I was near to being _kicked out_!' Scully raged, and Skinner saw that she was rising to her feet. The woman looked at her with disapproving eyes, but Scully didn't care. 'Since when have I been one of the best Agents around here? It's funny how it's all changed now that…' She started, but then stopped. She couldn't go on. Scully closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a deep breath. Tears coated her throat and she felt her body shake with anger. After a few moments when she had gathered herself, she carried on. 'I have given in my letter of resignation and I expect it to be treated with respect and for my request to be carried out.' She said forcefully, and the directors glared back at her. She went on, she wasn't ready to stop. 'I have lost my partner..' Scully started in despair, but realised that even that was too much for her. Skinner looked up in surprise and worry and watched Scully falter. He saw her sway on her feet and nearly got up to run to her. Scully felt her stomach turn and suddenly felt very sick. 'I wish to leave.' She said in a small voice, wanting to get this meeting over and done with as soon as possible. 'I wish to leave the FBI.'

'Agent Scully, we understand what you have been going through, but the death of Agent Mulder cannot make you leave your position…' The man said in a low voice. Scully felt the words hit her like a ton of bricks. She couldn't handle this anymore.

'I… I…' She started desperately, trying to think of something to say, but nothing came into her mind. Scully felt so dizzy that she had to run out of the room. She was gasping for fresh air. She ran towards the door and flung it open and then leant against the wall outside in the corridor desperately. Taking deep breaths she shook her head in disbelief and felt the tears roll down her cheeks as she felt the all consuming sorrow that she had been feeling for so long, and it just wouldn't leave her. Slowly, she felt her body fail and it gave up on her and her legs gave way. Scully slid down the wall and to the floor and sobbed on her knees. She heard the distant voices of other Agents around her and then she felt hands on her arms trying to pull her back up, but she didn't care. She just wanted to stay here forever, she didn't want any help.

Skinner rose from his seat angrily, he wasn't going to put up with this any longer. 'I think we should just do as she wishes.' He blurted out, and then was surprised at himself. He saw all the directors look at him like he was mad.

'Mr Skinner, she has not given a valid enough reason.' The woman said and Skinner sighed.

'Look, her partner is reported dead. She doesn't want to work here anymore and that is all.' Skinner shouted angrily, and picked up his papers from the desk and made his way towards the door. 'This meeting is over ladies and gentlemen.'

**Oh YES I've freaking done it now haven't I!**

**Oooh I bet loads of you hate me right now!**

**I hope ur all enjoying the story, if you want me to carry on, please let me know! Please review. And I'm not going to let ANYTHING away!!**


	17. Chapter 17

Scully felt Skinner's strong arms grab her and pull her to her feet. She tried to push him away but he was too strong. Unwillingly he led her out of the corridor and into his office much to the surprise of Agents around them. Some of them looked at Scully in shock to see her in such a state and Skinner blushed with embarassment. He closed the door behind him quickly.

'Scully you're making a scene…'

'Sir, please I just want to pack up my things and go.' She said in a low voice and sighed heavily as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Skinner sighed and didn't know what to say.

'Look, please just give it one last thought, you have more chance of finding Mulder if you're here…' Skinner started.

'Mulder is dead.' Scully stated angrily and glared into Skinner's eyes. Skinner wanted to shake her awake.

'Scully, you don't know that for sure. Here you have the resources to find Mulder, we can look together, open an investigation..'

'I HAVE opened an investigation Sir, and it failed. I couldn't have done anything better!' Scully exclaimed.

'Just give it some more time!'

'I don't want to give it more time!' Scully shouted. 'I don't want to keep looking for him only to find him dead in some pit somewhere…' Scully cried out and her voice faltered on her words as they shook her. 'I can't go on like this…' She gushed desperately. Skinner didn't know what to say.

'Dana I…' He started, but Scully sensed that he was stuck for words.

'For all I know Sir, and believe me, I have tried looking for him...' She started, and took a deep breath, remembering how crazy she'd been, looking for him for two months straight. She'd got the lone gunmen involved of course, but in the end they had admitted defeat. It was impossible to find him. 'Sir, Mulder is gone, and I have to get over that. The only way I can do that is to get away from the FBI, get away from the X-Files and get away from these damn offices and corridors that just remind me of him…' She started but broke off as tears coated her throat. Angrily she walked away from Skinner and turned on her heel towards the door. He looked after her desperately, but she opened the door and was gone. Skinner wondered if he was ever going to see her again.

**STRENGTH IN YOU**

He was somewhere, he didn't know where. He could see white all around him, it was overpowering. He didn't want to open his eyes because of it because it made him squint so much. He felt his breath fill his body and his chest rose heavily. It was so painful to move, he tried so hard not to unless he was breathing. Even the slightest rise of the chest was blindingly painful. He couldn't bear this much longer. Many delirious nights he had dreamt about being at home in his apartment on his sofa watching tv, safe and warm.

'Fox.'

Mulder frowned and moved his head slightly to the side to follow the familiar voice. It was a woman, and he knew that voice.

'Mom?' Mulder rapsed weakly. He couldn't believe it was her standing next to him.

'Shhh darling, don't waste your energy.' Teena said softly and put her hand on Mulder's arm. She looked down at him and Mulder blinked and looked into her face. She looked real enough.

'You're not real… ' He murmured in annoyance and tried to push her away.

'Fox, I'm as real as you want me to be. I'm here to help you.' She said gently and Mulder sighed.

'What did they do to you?' Mulder asked.

'That doesn't matter now Fox..'

'Yes it does! I need to know! Why didn't you tell me that they wanted to test you Mom? Why didn't you tell me?'

'Fox, please… we don't have time…' She urged.

'Am I dead?' He asked, half jokingly. Teena didn't answer for a moment and Mulder felt fear engulf his body.

'You have to get out of here Fox.' She said simply, and Mulder frowned in confusion.

'I.. I can't…' He said in frustration. Wasn't that obvious to her?

'Yes you can Fox, yes you can.' She said reassuringly in a low voice. Mulder frowned in confusion. 'Just believe in yourself. You'll get out of here. People are worried about you Fox, you need to go back. It's not your time sweetheart.' She said softly and squeezed his hand gently. Mulder frowned in confusion as he felt her touch him. 'Scully thinks you're dead, and so does the FBI. You can't give up now Fox, you can't leave it this way…'

'Scully?' Mulder cried out, astonished. 'She thinks I'm dead?'

'She's been looking for you, she's done all she can and now it's time for her to stop… but she doesn't want to Fox, and neither do you.'

'Mom.' Mulder gasped, suddenly scared. He didn't think that he could stand this much longer.

'Believe Fox. All you have to do is believe…' She said reinforcing confidence into him.

And then she was gone.

Mulder felt her leave the room. He couldn't explain it, but she was gone. He felt her leave and it broke his heart. He was alone again, in this place, with no one. Mulder felt his spirits falter and he felt hot tears sting his eyes.

'Mom?' He shouted out desperately, to see if she was still there. There was no reply. 'Mooooom!??' He screamed. His voice echoed around the large room and then suddenly the door was flung open.

'Quit making all this noise!' The voice shouted at him, and Mulder felt rage surge through his viens. He was desperate now, he needed to get out of there.

'Who are you people! Why are you doing this to me! Let me go!' He shouted desperately and tried to move but again it was too hard. He felt pain surge through his body.

'Now, now calm down.' The voice said, coming towards him. Mulder felt a strong pair of hands on his arms holding him still. Mulder cried out in annoyance.

'LET ME GO!' He screamed, and the man lifted his hands off him. Mulder took deep, painful breaths. There was a silence in the room and the man just seemed to look at him for a moment.

'Fine.' The man said in a low voice and Mulder turned in surprise.

'What?' Mulder asked in confusion and fear, but the man was walking away from him. He was leaving the room. Mulder felt hot tears sting his eyes as he feared what was coming next. They were coming back in the room again, he knew it, to hurt him. He braced himself for the pain again.

The doctors spilled into the room and Mulder cried out in protest. He knew the procedure. They injected him, and then did a few tests which he couldn't really feel. Sometimes they didn't wait until he was ready and a few times they had willingly drawn blood. He had fainted a few times when they had been working on him. Mulder sometimes wished that he would faint every time. The doctors surrounded his table again and Mulder felt the rage inside of him.

'LET ME GO!' He shouted desperately, and a doctor brought out a syringe. He closed his eyes and waited for the needle to go in, and it did.

**Scully's House, 10.55pm**

Her eyes were closing. She could't believe that she was actually tired, her mind was racing so much. Scully felt her heavy eyelids threaten to fall and never open again. She listened to the drawl of the television in front of her and the voices turned into a long murmur in her head. Her thoughts turned elsewhere. She'd done it. She'd left the FBI. Scully wondered whether she'd done the right thing. Had she? She didn't know.

Scully sighed and forced herself from the sofa and to her feet. She ran her hands through her red hair and took a deep breath.

'I need coffee.' She murmured to herself, and started to make her way across the kitchen. She grabbed the kettle and turned on the tap. As she filled it up she felt her eyes threaten to close again. She shook her head and tried to wake herself up again. She placed the kettle on the holder and switched the switch. As she pushed her hair behind her eyes she jumped as the phone rang. Scully frowned and turned to look at it. It suddenly made her feel uneasy. Scully swallowed heavily and decided against answering it, she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. She sighed and waited until the loud ringing stopped and as it did, the kettle came to a boil.

When she had made her coffee and slowly started back towards the sofa and placed herself down gently. The phone rang again. Scully frowned in annoyance and decided against answering it again. She didn't want to speak to anyone tonight, she needed a nice relaxing night where she could think things over.

Frowning in frustration however, she looked back at the phone and felt her stomach turn. It was like she was expecting it to be bringing bad news. She couldn't explain it, but she knew that that phone call wasn't pleasant. As the phone stopping ringing, Scully shook her head in annoyanced as she realised how stupid she was being. _People can't tell what a phone call is about,_ she thought to herself, and then found herself smiling a little bit as she realised that it's what her sister would have believed in, if she had been alive. Scully felt her smile falter as she remembered that painful memory, like she did so many times. She lowered her head and took a deep breath, trying to push it away. _No more sad memories Dana, no more.._

The phone rang again.

Scully nearly cried out in annoyance and she felt fear rise in her throat. She could feel it again, it was something bad, she knew it. Closing her eyes she made a decision in her mind. She couldn't leave it any longer, it would just keep on her mind all night, also it seemed like this caller wasn't going to give up.

Scully sighed and swallowed nervously. She reached over to grab the phone and counted to three in her head. After three she grabbed it and threw it to her ear. With her eyes closed she took a deep breath.

'Yes.' She answered in a low voice. Her heart was racing. There was a short silence and she felt like she was going to faint. Scully opened her eyes wide.

'He's not dead.'

Scully gasped in shock and brought a hand to her mouth. It was that voice again, that electronic voice.

Hot tears suddenly erupt from her eyes and she almost screamed out in shock.


	18. Chapter 18

Scully felt as if she was going to be sick. He was still alive, Mulder was still alive. All that she had tried to get rid of in her head came flooding back. Her heart felt like it was going to break into a million pieces again. She gasped in shock for a few moments while she tried to gather herself.

'Agent Scully?' The voice rasped and Scully started to shake with fear.

'Who… who are you?' She managed.

'That doesn't matter. What matters now is that Agent Mulder is still alive.' The voice said. Scully felt a shiver run through her.

'I… I killed you… I…' She said in shock, remembering shooting a bullet into the men. She closed her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek.

'Agent Scully…' The voice started again, but Scully felt anger rise inside her chest.

'WHERE ARE YOU! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MULDER?' She screamed angrily nd rose to her feet. She felt her breathing speed up and her heart was beating so fast.

'Now, now…'

'WHERE'S MULDER!' Scully screamed and she looked across at the door.

'You'll see…' The voice rasped and the Scully frowned in rage as she heard the phone being put down.

'HEY! Hey, don't!' She shouted as the dial tone started. She couldn't believe it. Scully cried out in frustration and thew the phone down onto the floor. To her surprise it smashed on the wooden floor and broke into pieces. Scully stared at it for a moment in a mixture of shock and satisfaction. She didn't care. She needed to find Mulder.

Scully had to steady herself as she suddenly felt very faint. _Mulder's still alive._

But she had known all along, Scully realised now. She took a deep breath and felt the hot tears roll down her cheeks. She didn't know how to move, how to act, it was all such a shock. But deep down she had hoped and wished for this, she had wanted him back so badly. So badly that the thought of losing him made her crazy. That's why she had left the FBI, she couldn't face being reminded of him again. Scully sighed heavily and reached a hand to her cheek and brushed away her tears. It was time to act.

She went towards her coffee table to pick up her gun but then felt her body falter as she remembered that she didn't own one anymore, she was out of the FBI. Scully cursed at herself under her breath. _How could she be so stupid? Leave the FBI? Was she crazy?_

'Damn you Mulder… how am I going to find you…' Scully said through clenched teeth as tears stung her eyes and then moved towards the door. What was she going to do? Looking around the house madly she tried to think of something.

Then suddenly there was a slow knock on the door, and a crash…

**ESCAPE**

Alex Krycek ran from the doorstep as fast as he could. He could see the lights in Scully's house and he could see her shadow moving about. He looked down at Mulder's body one last time and then turned to run out of sight. He turned to the left and made his way along the trees to hide himself. As he ran around the corner he tucked the phone and voice decoder into his jacket….

The smoking man breathed out his cigarette smoke into the night. He had done it now, it was all over. He looked across as Alex Krycek came walking towards him from across the road. He frowned at the smoking man as he made his way to the car. The smoking man took a deep puff from his cigarette and waited as Alex quickly made his way to the car. When Alex got in the smoking man looked across at him and Alex sat quietly for a moment.

'It's done?' The smoking man said in a low voice. Alex nodded.

'Scully is probably with him now.' Alex said and started up the car. The smoking man put a hand on his arm.

'It was the right thing to do, we have all we need now.'

'Are you sure about that?' Krycek said in a low voice and the smoking man nodded.

'Yes Alex…' He started in a patronising tone and Alex sighed. There was an awkward silence between them.

'So are we going now?' Alex asked. The smoking man nodded and blew out his smoke near Alex's drection and Alex raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

'You've done well Alex, we have Mulder's DNA and his details, we have done all we needed to do, and now all that is left to do is give him back to Scully. Now you have done that for me.' He said and Alex nodded and started the car up. He pulled out of the road and onto the main road as quickly as possible.

'Do you think he's going to live?' Alex asked after a few minutes. The smoking man blew out his smoke again.

'The drugs have just knocked him out, they won't kill him. We've let him go. I didn't put him through this so he could die Alex…' The smoking man said and Alex nodded. 'If I'd let him go on his own he would have found out where we work.'

Krycek nodded silently. They drove out into the night, out of sight.

**COME BACK TO ME **

Scully frowned in confusion as she heard the noise. She stared at the door with wide eyes full of fear. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward. She knew already what was behind the door, she could sense it. It was him, she knew it.

Scully slowly took steps towards the door and closed her eyes. She felt her lower lip tremble in fear as she prepared herself. Was he going to be dead? Alive?

Scully felt her body pull her across the room. She couldn't bear it. She ran towards the door and grabbed the door handle and flung it open.

There he was. He was there, right in front of her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was that he was bare. He was totally naked. Scully then noticed the colour of his skin, it was so white. Scully cried out in shock and felt her stomach drop in fear. She looked up to see if anyone was around, anyone at all. The rage inside her was overpowering. She couldn't believe someone had done this and just left him there on the doorstep.

'Mulder!' She gushed desperately and grabbed him with all her strength. Just the sight of him there in front of her was enough to break her heart. She felt the tears fall as she felt how cold he was. 'Mulder, it's all right…' She said weakly, and pulled him into the house with all her strength. He was lighter than usual though, lighter than she had remembered. She frowned in confusion and fear as she turned him over and looked down at his chest. There were marks all over it and syringe marks in his arms. Scully rose to her feet slammed the door behind her. She ran to the lounge and grabbed the nearest throw or blanket she could find. She ran back to him and threw the item over his body to keep him warm. Scully realised that she was shaking. She took hold of his wrist and waited to feel a pulse. She couldn't feel one.

Scully felt herself sob loudly in horror as she looked down at her friend. She looked at his face, he looked so peaceful with his eyes closed, but then she felt herself crumble when she knew that he was…

'Mulder please…' She begged desperately and stroked his cheek. Tears fell from her eyes onto the blanket over his body. Scully knelt down beside him and felt her knees hit the floor. Her body was falling in sorrow. It was like she had no control now. Scully shook her head in disbelief and kept waiting to feel a pulse. She was determined to find one.

She pulled the blanket over him tighter and racked her mind of what to do. The only thing she could think of was to make him comfortable. She felt her heart call out for him and she suddenly felt the impulse to hold him to her, her Mulder. She had missed him so much. Scully cried heavily and tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear. She wouldn't let go of him or take her eyes off him. She was desperate to see the slightest sign of life…

'Mulder please… come back to me…' She gushed in sorrow and squeezed his hand. His face still looked so handsome and gentle, and it broke her heart to think that this was it, this was the end of him. Scully let out another sob and then felt her heart call out for him and she lunged forward and grabbed him in her arms. She lay across him and hugged her to him as she cried into his chest. She wanted to make him warm again and to bring him back. She wanted her Mulder back again, back to normal.

'Mulder…' Scully gushed desperately and held him close. But in those few moments, Scully realised something. As she held him desperately and wished him back to life, back to her, she realised the feeling that she had always known, but had never wanted to admit.

She loved him.

_She loved Mulder…._

At that moment, Mulder flinched….

'Mu-Mulder…' Scully exclaimed in shock as she felt his body flinch violently. It was like he had just had a shock go through him. Scully jumped in shock and looked down at him. He was still again. She frowned in confusion and then ran for the phone in the kitchen. She grabbed it and then dialled 911. Scully walked back to him and knelt by him again. She grabbed his wrist and checked for a pulse again.

'Yes, it's my partner… friend. He's barely alive, please send someone here as quickly as possible…' She went on desperately, her voice wavering in fear. But Scully felt her fears quickly disappear dramatically when she felt his pulse weakly. She let out a huge sigh of relief and then finished on the phone. She put it down quickly and then ran to get him a cushion to rest on. She was so desperate to keep him comfortable, she couldn't even imagine how much pain he was in. She racked her brain for explanations. What the hell had happened to him? Who had done this? Scully gently lifted his head and then leant it on a cushion on the floor. She tucked in the blanket again and stroked his cheek gently. Her heart was racing for him. She felt a bit dizzy with overflowing emotion. She loved him. She couldn't deny it. She looked down at his handsome face and felt herself melt inside. Why hadn't she admitted it before? Had she really been in that much denial?

Mulder flinched again voilently and Scully gasped in shock. She grabbed him to try and keep him steady and then he flinched again, nearly lifting from the floor. Scully felt hot, scared tears sting her eyes again as she tried to hold him still, but she knew it was bad. He needed help quickly. She swallowed heavily and kissed his hand as if to calm him down.

'Mulder, it's all right, I'm here.' She cooed gently. 'I don't know if you can hear me but…' She started but was stopped by his body jolting again. Scully desperately held him down by the shoulders and she felt tremors go through his body. 'Mulder! Mulder it's all right!' She cried out desperately and he slowly came back to normal.

'Help.'

Scully stared at him in shock as the word escaped his lips. She frowned in confusion. Had she really heard that? Had he just spoken to her? Scully waited a few moments to see if he moved.

'Mulder?' She asked in a small voice.

'Help…' He gasped again in a very quiet voice. Scully frowned in concern and put a hand on his cheek gently. She felt happiness fill her body as she heard him speak. He was coming back to her… Mulder was coming back to her…

'Mulder!' Scully exclaimed happily and happy tears ran down her cheeks. She frowned in concern as she saw him frown and he had a terrified expression on his face. She sighed and squeezed his hand. She felt a small movement on her fingers.

'Mulder, it's me. It's Scully…' She cooed gently and Mulder moved his head towards her voice and she let out a small relieved laugh. 'Yes! Yes it's me… it's all right Mulder you're safe now.' She said softly, feeling the tears coating her throat. The love she was feeling for him at the moment was overpowering. Mulder moved his head around in confusion.

'Help.. he…' He started with difficulty, and Scully nodded and stroked his face gently.

'Yes Mulder, I'm going to help you. You're going to be fine it's all right…' She said gently and he seemed to calm down. Scully then heard the sound of sirens and she felt relief pour through her body.

'Thank god.'


	19. Chapter 19

**MEMORIES OF YOU**

Georgetown Memorial Hospital 1am

Scully sipped her coffee quietly in the corridor. She had been waiting for over two hours now for Mulder to get out of the ICU. She had been told that he would be out soon, and that he needed lots of fluids and tests but that he was going to be fine. She had talked about it with his doctor and she had offered to help but he had told her that it was probably better if she didn't. She had obviously looked a state, with her mascara running down her face and her cheeks puffy. Scully had gone to the bathroom afterwards and she had seen how drawn her face had looked. She had then cleaned herself up a bit and tried to calm herself, and now she was ready to see him, she had waited long enough now. But she also felt nervous to see him, because of how she felt. Scully was so confused. Had she really started to have feelings for him? Or was it just an emotional reaction to seeing him alive again, with her. But Scully was sure, she could tell by the way that her heart felt. She felt as if she was flying and flying towards a scary end, she didn't know where she was going to go, but she knew that Mulder was worthit. She felt a smile escape her lips uncontrollably as she thought about him. He made her so happy, and how he was back and he was safe. Scully couldn't believe all the events that had happened to them in the last few months. She took a deep breath to calm herself.

She suddenly saw a familiar pair of shoes by her side on the floor. She frowned in surprise and looked up to face Skinner who was staring down at her with sensitive eyes. Scully rose to her feet and smiled a little, knowing that he was also happy. He put a friendly hand on her shoulder and they looked at each other for a moment in silence.

'Scully, I don't know what to say…' Skinner started. Scully let out a small laugh.

'Me neither Sir, I'm just so glad that he's back.' Scully gushed, and happy tears stung her eyes as Skinner looked at her with soft, gentle eyes.

'I spoke to his doctor…'

'Yes he's going to be all right. I wasn't sure for a while, when he was on my doorstep…' She said in a small voice, remembering painfully the moment when she had seen him… dead. Skinner sighed.

'Scully, that's what I need to ask you about. You need to try and remember what happened. Did you see anyone there?'

'No Sir, I didn't.' Scully said in frustration. Skinner looked at her uneasily.

'You.. you don't have to call me Sir anymore..' Skinner said sheepishly and Scully frowned in confusion. Then she remembered, she'd left the FBI. She had totally forgotten. Scully felt panic and annoyance fill her gut.

'Sir.. I… I don't know how to say this but..'

'You want to come back to the FBI don't you.' Skinner said suddenly, butting in. But he knew that she was thinking it. Scully frowned in thought and looked at him.

'Yes Sir. I don't know what I was thinking!' She said uneasily and Skinner surprised her by letting out a small laugh. Scully frowned in annoyance and looked up at him.

'What?' She asked, angry at him laughing at her.

'I'm just happy that you've changed your mind that's all.' Skinner said in a friendly manner and he smiled at Scully. 'It was a mistake for you to resign, I hope you realise that now.' He said gently and Scully nodded.

'When will I be able to come back?'

'Let me sort that out, in the meantime, get Mulder back on track.' Skinner said kindly, and then turned to leave. Scully frowned in surprise and started after him.

'Hey! Sir? Where are you going?' She asked, and Skinner turned round to look at her.

'I'm going to leave you now, I don't want to interfere…' He started, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

'But Sir, Mulder will be glad to see you…' Scully started.

'No it's all right Dana, I'll come back later. Theres some work I need to do.'

'At 1am?' She asked raising an eyebrow.

'I need to go and try and find the man who brought Mulder back.' Skinner said, seeming a little frustrated now. Scully frowned in confusion. 'Go to him, make sure he's all right. I'll be back soon.' He said simply, and then turned and walked away from her. Scully didn't know what to say. She sighed and watched him go down the corridor and out of the doors. Turning away from him, she closed her eyes and thought to herself.

'Miss Scully?' A voice called from behind her. Scully jumped and spun round quickly. She came face to face with a young blond nurse. Scully let out a relieved laugh and put a hand to her chest.

'I'm sorry you gave me a fright!' Scully exclaimed embarassingly. The nurse smiled a little.

'It's all right. Mr Mulder is ready now, you can go and see him.' The nurse said gently and Scully nodded, feeling happiness and fear fill her body. She was going to see him now. She was going to see Mulder, and she loved him. Scully swallowed nervously and followed the nurse as she led her down the corridor and towards Mulder's room. Scully felt her heart beat get faster as she came neared the door. She could see the faint outline of his body lying on the bed through the window. Scully felt fear tighten in her throat and she looked across at the nurse.

'Is he… all right?' She asked in a small voice. The nurse obviously noticed her fear and she gave her a sympathetic look.

'He's going to be fine. Just be gentle with him, don't stay for too long. He needs his rest.' She said softly, and Scully forced a smile and nodded.

The nurse turned and walked down the hall to carry on with her duties. Scully took a deep breath and put her hand on the door knob. She opened the door slowly and got ready to face him.

As she entered she could see Mulder lying on the bed. She felt tears catch her throat as she saw the medical equipment going into his arms. It made her feel even more upset because she had seen this only a few months ago. Mulder had gone through such a hard time, she couldn't believe it. She slowly took a few steps towards him and she sat herself down. She saw that he had his eyes closed and he was sleeping softly. Scully pulled off her brown jacket and put it over the chair. She took a deep breath and looked down at his handsome face and his cute dimples, his dark hair and his boyish good looks. She saw his strong chest and muscles peep out of his arms and her stomach did a flip with excitement. This man was so attractive. Why hadn't she seen it before?

Scully sighed heavily and put her head into her hands. She didn't know how to handle this. She couldn't believe she had fallen for Mulder, her best friend in the world. It seemed to good to be true, but she just knew that she could never tell him, it would ruin everything. Scully felt hot tears sting her eyes as she thought about never telling Mulder and living a life of denial. She didn't know if she could do that…

Scully looked up at him again and her stomach flipped again at the sight of him. It killed her to see him so hurt and abused. He was still so weak. She wanted to hold him and to tell him he would be fine. She brushed a tear away from her eye and slowly reached out her hand to take into his. She felt the bed covers and then touched his fingers. Scully felt the sparks from him fly into her and she sighed as she touched him. She loved him so much.

She couldn't help but smile a little. It felt so nice to hold his hand in hers, to feel his skin against hers again. When Mulder held her hand it was just as big as him kissing her, him touching her skin. Scully squeezed his hand gently and looked up to see if he moved, and to her happiness, he did.

Scully frowned in concern as he slowly turned his head and his eyes flickered open slowly. He looked so lost. She suddenly felt a so sorry for him and she wanted to help him. He looked desperate and scared. Scully moved closer to him.

'Mulder, it's me. It's all right Mulder… it's going to be all right.' She said gently and looked down at him. Mulder slowly stared up at her with large eyes. Scully felt that feeling in her stomach again. But something was strange. He was looking at her like she was mad. Scully frowned in concern for him. 'Mulder it's all right.' She said again as he looked up at her like a lost little boy. Mulder looked terrified.

'I… I…' He said in confusion. Scully realised that he was shaking, and to her horror, he snatched his hand away from her. Scully frowned in shock and looked down to her own hand which was now left alone and cold. She looked back at Mulder who was staring at her desperately.

'Mulder what's wrong?' She said with worry.

'Where… where am I?' He asked in a small voice, not sounding like his own. Scully frowned with concern and love for him. It was all right, he was just confused.

'You're at Georgetown Memorial Hospital, you're going to be all right.' Scully said gently and raised her other hand to his cheek and she reached to touch it but Mulder flinched away from her. Scully pulled back in shock and felt her heart jolt with sadness. What the hell? 'Mulder?' She asked in a scared voice, but Mulder was staring at her with terrified eyes. Scully frowned with confusion. She saw that he was trembling.

'Who… who are you?' Mulder said in a small voice, and Scully suddenly realised.

She felt the world around her fall. She felt her heart slow, like it had been stood still in time. A sickness came into her stomach as she felt the words ring through her head like torture, over and over again. He doesn't know who I am… she thought to herself, heartbroken.

After a few moments Scully managed to get her words out. She swallowed heavily and felt a single tear fall from her eyes. Her throat felt like it was closing up on her, like she was going to stop breathing. She backed away from him slowly.

'You… you don't remember me?' She blurted out in sorrow. She couldn't bear this. Mulder continued to stare at her in fear and she felt her heart break. Mulder shook his head in reply and uncontrollably Scully felt tears come up from her chest and she sobbed. In shock with herself, she lifted her hands up to her mouth as if to stop her cries.

'Please… don't hurt me.' Mulder said in a small voice. Scully couldn't believe it. She swallowed heavily and got to her feet. To her horror Mulder looked even more afraid.

'Please.' Scully said. 'I'm not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you. I'm your friend!' Scully said nervously, but Mulder wasn't having any of it.

'HELP!' He suddenly shouted out. Scully gasped in surprise at his cries. 'HELP ME!' Mulder shouted again desperately and Scully shook her head in disbelief.

As she heard the door open and the doctors crash in, she felt as if the scene in front of her was in slow motion. She felt the doctors rush around her and they grabbed her and pulled her out of the room, away from Mulder. They were saying things in her ear that she didn't understand, and she desperately didn't want to leave the room. She wanted to stay with Mulder, to make him remember and to make him feel safe. Scully felt her sobs come out of her uncontrollably as she saw the doctors move towards Mulder and she saw how terrified he was. But before she could say anything she was out in the corridor again and nurses were sitting her down. She felt the earth spin around her and she became very dizzy. Helplessly, she sobbed into her hands and she nurses were speaking to her, but she didn't hear them. All she could think about was Mulder, and that he couldn't remember her.

_The thought broke her heart. _


	20. Chapter 20

**BABY, THEN IT FELL APART**

Scully didn't care. She didn't care that her mascara was running again, that her hair was messy. She didn't care if she had just been told not to burst in, she didn't care anymore.

'Why can't he remember!' Scully shouted as she stormed into Mulder's doctors office. She flung the doors open as she went in, and the doctor jumped in shock. He slowly rose from his desk and raised a hand to her.

'Now please listen to me Miss Scully…'

'No you listen to me!' She shouted, moving towards him. 'Why can't Mulder remember anything?' She said desperately. The doctor looked at her with angry eyes.

'Miss Scully, you have to been told to leave this alone!' He said accusingly.

'I am a doctor Sir, and I want to know exactly what his medical condition is!' She shouted, tears brimming her eyes. The doctor signed in annoyance.

'Please, leave us to do the work…'

'You should have worked this out! Did you not give him a scan? Did you not check for head injuries? I mean… this… this is CRAZY!' Scully shouted madly and moved over to the side of the room and leant against a desk in annoyance. There was an awkward silence in the room as she waited for the doctor to answer, but he didn't. 'Look.' She said, taking a deep breath. 'I'm sorry I burst in here, but I am very concerned about my friend's health. Now all I want to know is, what information do you have for me on why he had anmesia, and how bad it is.' She said in a low voice, and turned back to the doctor who was now looking at her with timid eyes. There was another silence as the doctor found his words.

'I have done a few checks on him and he appears to have gotten a heavy head wound. He has also been under a lot of shock, the mixture of all of that and the drugs that were in his system seem to have messed up his memory…' The doctor said sadly, and Scully felt the tears threaten to fall again. This information was heart breaking and painful to hear.

'So the people who took him…' She started, taking a deep breath, 'They did this to him?' She asked in a small voice and the doctor nodded.

'Most definetely.' He said, and Scully nodded. She ran a hand through her hair.

'Will Mulder… remember?' She asked timidly. The doctor lowered his head and looked down at his shoes awkward. _This can't be good_… Scully thought.

'He will, we will have to give it time. You have to help him remember Miss Scully.' The doctor said gently, and Scully nodded uneasily. She was determined not to cry anymore.

'All right.' She said in a small voice, and took a few steps towards the doctor. 'When can I start?'

Skinner pulled his car into Scully's drive and got out into the cold night. He stifled a yawn and shut the car door firmly, his long coat blowing out in the breeze. He took a long steps across the grass and next to the trees. Frowning in thought, he took a look around him suspiciously. Suddenly he heard a crack of a branch from behind him and he turned around in surprise. Frowing, he looked across the street and around the area trying to spot someone. He was sure someone was there, he could feel it. Skinner reached into his jacket and felt his gun. Satisifed that it was there, ready to use, he turned back to the house and took steps towards it again, keeping his eyes on the grass for footprints or clues.

But Skinner suddenly then felt a cold barrel of a gun click and hit the back of his neck. He gasped out in shock and felt his heart race. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he raised his arms slowly.

'Keep facing forward.' A low voice said from behind him, and Skinner obliged nervously. He felt the anger inside him and he fought the urge to turn and beat the crap out of this guy. It was hard to fight off, that was for sure. Skinner felt the gun get pushed deeper into his neck and he flinched in fear as he was pushed forward. 'Walk forward.' The voice said gruffly and Skinner nodded and took steps towards Scully's house. Skinner frowned in concentration as they got near the front doorstep.

Skinner looked down at the floor and saw something in the grass. It stopped him, but the man pushed him forwards again angrily. 'Keep moving!' He said under his breath and Skinner kept going. The reached the door and then the man stopped. Skinner waited in suspense.

'Now Mr Skinner, let me explain what I'm here for today.' The man said in a playful tone. Skinner felt his heart beat fast in fear. 'Look down at the grass.' The man said, and Skinner looked down with caution.

'What is this?' Skinner asked in a low voice but the man pushed the gun harder into his neck.

'Don't ask questions.' He said angrily. 'That, on the grass, is a footprint Mr Skinner. Something that you had come here to find.' The man said, and Skinner felt his stomach turn as he saw the footprint in front of his eyes. 'Well, I am going to get rid of that foot print, and that one…' The man said, pointing to the left, 'and that one over there…' he said, pointing in the distance, 'and then all the other clues that are here. Fun huh?' The man said playfully and Skinner felt overflowing anger in his body. He couldn't believe it.

'You bastard…' Skinner said through clenched teeth, and the man laughed.

'Now, now.' He said playfully, and pushed the gun in further and Skinner winced in shock. 'We can't let you FBI folk find out who did this can we?' The man said, and then laughed. Skinner felt physically sick.

'You think you can get away with this?' Skinner asked angrily.

'Oh not only am I going to get away with this…' The man said, coming around to the front of Skinner now, and facing him. Skinner saw that he wore a mask. '…I am going to let you watch me get away with it.' He said with a big smile, and Skinner frowned in fury. The man pointed the gun at Skinner's head threateningly, and then pointed it down to the floor, making Skinner go down to his knees. Skinner did so, and then the man knelt down on one knee in front of him. 'There's NOTHING that you can do about it…. Assistant Director…' The man said wickedly, and smiled in satisfaction. Skinner felt a shiver run down his spine.

Scully looked through the windows to Mulder's room and sighed. She held her arms crossed over her chest and looked at him sleeping in his bed. He had gone a little crazy after he had started shouting, purely out of fear, Scully knew that. But he had had to have been sedated and put to sleep. Scully felt concern for him fill her and she frowned in sadness. She felt so sorry for him, he was just lost and confused. She took a deep breath as she tried to figure it all out in her head. She was going to have to find her own way of making him remember, she was the closest person to family that he had left and the closest friend. She was everything to him.

_Just like you're everything to me, Mulder_… she thought to herself, her heart aching with love for him. Scully sighed heavily and closed her eyes. She was so, so tired. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned in surprise.

'Sorry Miss Scully. I have the charts that you wanted to see.' The doctor said, and she took them obligingly. The doctor frowned at her and studied her face. Scully felt a little self concious.

'May be you should just go home and have a sleep.' He said, and Scully shook her head.

'No way, that's the last thing I want to do right now.' She said defensively.

'You look exhausted. He's not going to wake up for around 4 hours or so, you should get some rest so that you're awake enough to help him.' The doctor said kindly, and Scully opened her mouth to protest, but she knew that he was right. She gave in and nodded weakly.

'Could I stay here in the hospital?' She asked quickly, just as he was about to leave. The doctor turned and looked at her like she was mad.

'Are you serious?' He asked. Scully nodded.

'Doctor, I love this man.' Scully said, and then felt her heart skip a beat as she realised that she had just admitted that to another person. It took her a moment to carry on. 'And… and I want to be here with him, ready to help at any time.' She said nervously, and the doctor studied her for a moment and then he broke into a small smile.

'Of course, there are some spare beds. I'l lget Lucy to look for you.' The doctor said and gestured up the hall for the blond nurse to come down to them. Scully felt relief fill through her system. 'True love is hard to find, and I can see that you really love this man.' The doctor said with a smile, and Scully felt her stomach turn with emotion. She felt tears sting her eyes and she took a deep breath. As she watched the doctor walk away, she swallowed nervously and looked back at Mulder, and she felt her spirits lift when she saw him. Yes, she was also sure now. It really was true love. She was determined now.

She needed to get him back to normal, to save him. And she would. Even if it killed her.


	21. Chapter 21

**LET ME HELP YOU**

Skinner woke up and tasted a strange taste in his mouth. He frowned in confusion and opened his eyes to see he was lying face down in the grass. He quickly jumped up in shock and then realised that he had mud in his mouth. Angrily he spat it out and struggled to get to his feet. His head was spinning. What the hell had happened?

Skinner thought back to what had happened. A man had been there, he had taken all the evidence, and then… Skinner couldn't remember. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes as he felt his head pumping. He turned to leave but then was stopped as he felt a huge surge of pain in his head. Skinner grunted and put a hand to his head and remembered that he had been hit. He angrily took a slow steps away from Scully's house and back to his car. He couldn't believe those bastards had gotten away with it again…

**Georgetown Memorial Hospital 8am**

Scully jumped up out of her sleep in shock. She had been dreaming and horrible dream. Mulder had been in trouble, and Scully had come to help him, but he wouldn't listen to her because he couldn't remember who she was. Scully frowned and held her head in her hands. The feeling of fear was still running inside her body as she saw the last few moments of her dream play back painfully in her mind. She took a deep breath and then looked over at the small bedside table. She frowned in thought as she picked up her watch and checked the time. When she saw that it was morning, she yawned sleepily and then slowly got out of her small hospital bed. She didn't even dare look in the mirror, she hadn't be able to take off any of her mascara and she couldn't be bothered now to make her look better. She didn't have the energy for anything like that, for anything to do with her. All she had energy for was Mulder.

Scully felt her heart race faster as she thought about him_. He's just down the hall Dana, he's in safe hands…_ she told herself, but it still didn't stop her feeling of anxiety. She sighed deeply and made her way to her chair and pulled on her clothes from the night before. She pulled her red sweater over her head and pulled on her black trousers then slipped on her boots. Scully then picked up her long jacket and made her way into the hall and met Mulder's doctor.

'Morning Miss Scully.' The doctor said with a smile. Scully nodded politely back and forced a smile.

'How is he?' She said.

'He's all right, I'd like you to try and help him remember today, if you don't mind.' The doctor said gently and Scully felt her heart race.

'Of course, of course I will.' Scully blurted out enthusiastically and she followed the doctor to Mulder's room. Scully looked through the window again and saw Mulder lying peacefully in his bed looking out of the window. Scully felt her stomach tighten and she felt heat rush to her cheeks. There he was, she'd missed him overnight.

Scully nodded as the doctor let her in and she stepped in nervously. Mulder was still facing away from her and she edged into the room cautiously.

'Good morning.' She said, and Mulder turned quickly in surpise. Scully felt her stomach drop as she saw the expression on his face. He looked confused and nervous. Scully hated it.

'Do you remember me from yesterday?' She asked cautiously and Mulder didn't answer. She waited patiently as he figured it out in his head. Finally he pointed at her.

'Oh yes! I remember now.' Mulder said, and Scully smiled a little. She made her way towards him and she explained herself quickly.

'Trust me, please trust me.' She said gently, and Mulder frowned in thought as she got closer. 'Do you know what's happened to you?' She asked.

'I… I can't remember anything.' Mulder said with a puzzled expression. Scully felt her heart ache with sadness for him. She wanted so badly to hug him but she knew that she couldn't.

'Yes, I know.' She said softly, and pulled up a chair next to him. 'I've come to try and help you remember.' She said kindly and gave him a soft smile. Mulder didn't move.

'Do… do I know you?' He asked with confusion, and Scully felt hot tears coat her throat.

'Yes.' She said weakly, and gave Mulder a loving look. 'You see, we're actually very close.' She said, her voice threatening to falter with tears, but she wouldn't let it. She leant in closer until she was looking him right in the eyes. 'My name is Dana Scully. I work with you at the FBI. We've been partners for a few years now, and we are very good friends.' She said in a friendly tone, and Mulder frowned in confusion. There was a small silence between them and then finally Mulder held out his hand to her cautiously.

'Nice to meet you Dana.' Mulder said, and Scully felt her heart call out for him sadly. She took his hand shakily and shook it, trying to keep her composure.

'Actually, you normally call me Scully.' She said with a small laugh, and Mulder raised an eyebrow.

'Scully?'

'Yes, my surname. I actually call you Mulder too.' Scully said, slightly embarassed now. A small smile escaped Mulder's lips.

'Oh I see.' He said quietly and Scully felt her stomach flip as he smiled. 'Well, tell me about what we do at the…. FBI you said?' Mulder asked.

'Yes. We're FBI agents and what we do? Well…' Scully started and laughed again, 'it's sort of a long story…'

Scully didn't give up on him, she explained everything as best she could. Mulder's face looked amazed at everything she told him, and it seemed totally surreal to her, telling Mulder about his life and his beliefs. She felt like the one believing for a change, and that she was the one to intoduce her partner into this strange and dangerous world.

'So I… I believe in aliens?' Mulder asked, in total shock. Scully nodded, but inside she was breaking with sadness. He really had forgotten everything, including his faith and beliefs.

'Yes.' She said in a small voice. Mulder stared at her.

'And my sister got taken from me? You would think that I would remember that…' He said in a small voice, and then turned and looked out of the window. Scully felt her heart ache for him. _Please remember Mulder, please remember her. _

'You seem very…' Mulder started, but then broke off. Scully was desperate to hear what he was saying. She grabbed hold of his hand, and gladly she saw that he didn't flinch. He slowly turned to look at her. 'I.. I feel safe with you..' he said softly, and Scully felt hot tears rise to her eyes of relief.

'I can't even explain how much that means to me…' She gushed and then lowered her head to stop him seeing her tears. She angrily sniffed them away and there was a silence between the two.

'I wish I could remember.' Mulder said in a small voice and Scully raised her head to see that his eyes were glistening. She felt her heart break in two.

'Oh Mulder… you will remember.' She gushed and squeezed his hand. Mulder forced a confident smile and nodded.

'I hope so. I feel so lost.' He said in a quiet voice and Scully nodded. 'Scully?' He asked gently, and Scully felt hope rise in her as she relished in the sound of his voice saying her name. 'Who's the smoking man?' He said in a small voice. Scully swallowed heavily and panic and excitement. He remembered the smoking man!

'He…' She started in shock, and Mulder turned to her frowning. 'He's… well he's an enemy.' She said, and Mulder raised an eyebrow.

'Oh.' He said simply, and Scully felt her heart beating in her chest.

'You remember him?' She asked.

'Yes, I remember his name. I don't know why.' Mulder said and Scully nodded.

'Well that's good. We're getting there, we just need to find a memory that brings it all back, and I have a feeling it'll be about your sister. Try and remember her Mulder, try hard.' She said gently, and Mulder nodded and closed his eyes. 'I'll leave you now..' She started, and rose from her seat but then was shocked when Mulder grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the bed. Scully turned and looked into those deep, brown eyes and she felt her knees give way under her.

'Please stay.' Mulder said in a quiet voice, and she could see from the look in his eyes that he was deadly serious. Scully frowned questioningly.

'Are you sure?' She asked, begging him to say yes.

'I feel safe with you, please don't leave here?' He said gently and Scully felt tears rise to her throat and she slowly sat back down in her seat.

'Of course.' She said softly and Mulder smiled as she took hold of his hand again and smiled back lovingly.


	22. Chapter 22

**I DONT KNOW WHY IM FRIGHTENED**

Scully awoke with a start as she heard Mulder's screams. She felt her heart racing in panic in her chest and she grabbed hold of him as he moved violently. She frowned in shock as she saw him shouting and moving around in the bed violently. She tried to hold him down.

'Mulder! Mulder it's all right it's just a bad dream!' She said desperately and held him down with all her strength. 'MULDER!' She shouted, and he jumped suddenly and his eyes flashed open. Scully frowned in concern as he madly looked around the room, confused and frightened. 'Mulder, it's all right, it was just a dream. You're safe now.. it's ok.' She said gently, and raised her hand to his forehead. He was burning up. His eyes looked around the room madly and then finally he met her gaze. Scully frowned in thought as she looked into his eyes and saw his expression. He looked afraid. Scully grabbed his hand and kissed it gently as he calmed down.

'It was just a dream.' Scully said gently and Mulder nodded.

'Scully… I remember.' He said in a small voice and Scully felt her heart skip a beat in shock. 'I remember Samantha. It was like… it was like I was relieving the moment all over again.' He said quietly and she saw tears glisten in his eyes. Scully felt so sorry for him, but she was also happy, so happy that he was remembering. He kept her gaze. 'I saw her get taken again… it was so…' He started, but then closed his eyes. Scully could see that he was breaking down. She felt her own tears come to her eyes and she grabbed him and pulled him towards her. She held him close to her and felt Mulder shaking in her grasp. Suddenly she worried if she had hurt him, but he wasn't complaining. He was holding her tightly and he wasn't going to let go. Scully buried her face in his shoulder and felt her own tears fall from her eyes, but she needed to stay strong for him. But just the feeling of having him confide in her all over again, it made her feel so happy.

They stayed there for a while as Mulder came to terms with his loss all over again. She couldn't even imagine how he felt. Just hearing about the story broke Scully's heart. She remembered the first time that he had told her, and it had made her so upset. She gently stroked his hair and told him he was going to be all right.

Mulder pulled away from her finally and she held his cheeks in her hands. She looked at his face and saw that he still had his eyes closed, like he was thinking. Scully wiped away the tears from his cheeks and kissed his forehead gently. She waited for him to come back to her, and he did after a few moments and looked deep into her eyes. Scully felt her stomach turn as he gazed at her and she was so close to his lips, she could kiss them if she wanted to…

'Scully…' He whispered finally, and Scully felt her heart ache.

'Yes?' She said in a small voice, not knowing what to do.

'I… I remember…' He started, and Scully frowned in confusion as his voice broke off.

'What?' She asked. But to her surprise Mulder grabbed her hand and held it in his. She was surprised at this turn of care.

'Scully.' He said simply, and then she suddenly realised. 'Scully I remember you.' He said gently, and then broke into a smile. Scully gasped in shock and happiness and felt her heart skip a beat. She felt as if the world around her was breaking and it was just them. She let out a happy sob and Mulder laughed with her, overjoyed.

'Mulder!' She called out and grabbed him again into a strong embrace. Mulder laughed as she hugged him. They were back to normal, Mulder was back. He remembered her. Scully couldn't believe it and she cried out in happiness. 'Thank god. Thank god…' She repeated in a whisper and held him close.

'I can't believe I ever forgot you.' Mulder said in a small voice and kissed her hair. Scully felt her stomach flip as he returned to her. She couldn't believe it. Mulder was back.

**Later that night**

Scully watched as Mulder slept and she felt her heart calling out for him. She didn't know what to do with herself, she couldn't make herself leave the room. It was like she was stuck there with him and she couldn't escape. The feeling was engulfing her and she felt faint. She couldn't last much longer like this, she felt like she needed to tell him, desperately. But she couldn't. She couldn't risk losing their friendship, and he was just coming to terms with remembering everything again, she wouldn't do it to him…

Mulder had got more of his memories back during the day with Scully's help, and he seemed like he was nearly back to normal. The doctor had been happy with his progress and Scully had also been relieved, but they still had to keep him for another night to make sure he was all right. Scully wanted to get back to normal as quickly as possible, so that she could try and focus on her work and get her mind off Mulder. Scully felt herself laugh a little. How was she supposed to get her mind of him? He was always with her? Suddenly she felt herself panic. What was she supposed to do?

Scully sighed heavily and held her head in her hands desperately. She decided to leave the room, she had to get her head straight. She slowly rose from her seat sadly and made herself leave the room. It wasn't easy. She looked back at Mulder sadly and forced a confident smile. This was it now, she was going to have to live this way. She was going to have to live with being in love with her best friend, with her partner. She felt tears coat her throat and she swallowed nervously. She grabbed the door handle quickly and then found herself running out of the room, only to slam the door and fall against the wall of the corridor and lower her head in sorrow.

Scully ran down the corridor and past the night nurses. They looked at her with surprise as she rushed out of the hospital and out into the cold night, her jacket blowing backwards with the breeze. She tried to focus on something else. Mulder was filling her heart and soul, he was driving her crazy. She brushed her hair behind her ears and looked across the car park to see her car, sitting lonely in the corner. The car park was deserted the quiet, the visitores and emergency part around the front of the hospital, still bustling with emergencies. But this part of the car park was basically empty. Just her car sitting there, and no one there.  
Scully then felt drops of water fall down on her cheek. She looked up to the night sky and saw that it was raining. She sighed heavily as she felt the cold rain hit her cheeks. She felt like it was trying to cleanse her of the feelings she had inside, but she knew that they would never be able to do that.

Scully pushed her thoughts away and reached into her pocket for her car keys. She hurried towards her car as the rain started to come down more heavily and she pressed her unlock button. The car flashed and the locks went up. She grabbed hold of the car door and pulled it up to open the door when suddenly she was knocked to the ground. Scully cried out in pain as she got hit hard on the back of the neck, pain shooting through her back. She fell forward onto the car, her bones hitting the hard metal. She cried out as she was forced onto the car and held there by the attacker, and she she felt her head being forced to the side and pushd against te car door. She clenched her teeth as the person behind her whacked her head against the car and she felt dizzy and weak.

'HELP!' She cried out desperately, knowing that she wasn't an agent anymore and she didn't have a gun on her. Crying out in pain she felt fear and angry rise inside her body. She felt useless now. This had gotten ridiculous, she'd had enoguh. _Just kill me, just kill me please…_ she thought to herself.

'Stop moving!' The voice shouted from behind her, and she gave in. Scully closed her eyes and felt sadness fill her chest. She didn't even want to fight back anymore. 'What does he remember?' The voice asked forcefully. Scully frowned in confusion.

'What?' She asked, and then felt her arm being pulled back and forced in an uncomfortable position. She screamed in agony as she felt her muscles and bones being forced.

'WHAT DOES HE REMEMBER?' The man shouted now as Scully cried out.

'Who?' She cried desperately. 'I don't know what you're talking about!' She screamed as her arm was wrenched back.

'You know who! Mulder!' The man shouted into her ear, and Scully felt hot tears roll from her eyes as she felt the pain. She thought for a moment before she answered.

'I… I don't know.' She cried out, the rain getting heavier.

'Don't lie to me!' He shouted, and pulled her arm back more.

'Please! I… I don't know!' She shouted desperately and closed her eyes, trying to imagine this wasn't happening.

'Don't lie to me Scully, I need to know what he remembers!' The man shouted, and Scully felt her arm nearly break. She screamed out desperately as the rain started to make her hair straggled.

'Agggh! He… he doesn't remember anything!' She screamed. 'You bastards made him lose his memory!' She blurted out desperately, and the man stopped for a second. Scully felt her rage take her over. 'He doesn't even remember who I am!'

'Liar!' He shouted again and wrenched her arm the other way. Scully screamed at the top of her lungs. _Please somebody help me_… she thought. She tasted blood and rain water in her mouth.

'I'M NOT LYING! PLEASE! I can't help you!' She screamed, hot tears rolling down her cheeks. She screamed as the man pulled her back again and threw her against the car, making her fall against it and the window smashed. She fell, then hit the cold, wet ground in agony, the rain falling on her sore body and she opened her eyes weakly and saw a blurred picture in front of her as the man ran away across the car park and into the bushes.


	23. Chapter 23

Scully blinked as the scene in front of her flickered into view. She frowned as her vision swayed and she saw the world at an angle she wasn't used to. The car park was spreading out by her eyes and she lay down on her side. Blinking in fear and confusion she tried to move to get up but was hit with the pang of agony in her body. She cried out and forced herself to a sitting position. She looked around on the floor and saw the broken glass from the window. Scully shook her head in disbelief and looked around her to the still deserted car park. She sighed heavily and felt hot tears sting her eyes as she pain hit her again and she felt dizzy. She frowned in thought and slowly managed to get to her feet. The rain still plummeted down on the ground and she was drenched. Scully lowered her head in sadness and took a deep breath. She had to get out of there.

Scully stumbled through her front door and tasted blood in her mouth. She felt sick and dizzy and desperately needed to lie down. Throwing the door shut she stumbled across the kitchen and opened the freezer. She grabbed some frozen peas and pulled them up to her cheek where her face was throbbing painfully. Wincing as the cold touched her skin she closed the freezer and struggled to her bedroom. Scully was fighting back frustrated tears. She had decided not to go into the hospital because she couldn't bear letting Mulder know what had happened to her. She didn't want him to know, she didn't want him to worry. Scully felt the rage still burning inside her body from the attack. That bastard had been wanting to know about Mulder again. Why the hell didn't they just leave them alone? The heartbreaking truth to Scully though, was that she now had to be silent. There was only one way to keep Mulder safe, to let them think that he remembers nothing. There was no other way. She had to be sensible. She had to lie.

Scully groaned in pain as her legs buckled underneath her and she fell onto her bed and pulled a lose blanket over her. Her clothes were still wet and she didn't have time or energy to take her shoes or coat off. She just pulled the blanket up to her and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

**LATER**

Scully was suddenly woken by her phone ringing. She jumped with a start and then winced as the pain hit her again. She looked down to her side and saw that the bag of frozen peas had been melting and her bed was wet. She groaned in annoyance and threw them off the bed in frustration. She went to grab the phone.

'Hello?' She asked weakly.

'Scully? It's Langley. Is this a secure line?'

Scully felt her heart skip a beat and she tried to sit up. She winced in pain as she moved.

'Erm… are you… busy?' Langley asked sounding suddenly nervous. Scully frowned in confusion at his comment and then blushed as she realised what he must be thinking.

'What? Oh no, no I… I got into a fight…' She said awkwardly and there was a small silence.

'A fight? Are you all right?' He asked and Scully closed her eyes.

'I'll be ok.' She said quietly. 'Why are you calling me at…' She said and looked over to the clock, '4am!' She exclaimed.

'Scully, it's Mulder. There's something that we've found out. We need to see you straight away and show it to you personally.' He said in an authorative voice. Scully felt her chest tighten with worry.

'What? What's wrong.. what's happened?' She asked, tears stinging her eyes. She felt her heart beating fast. Langley obviously picked up on her fear.

'Scully don't worry it's nothing like that. Its big but… it's not to do with his health or anything. Just come over to us and we'll explain. Gotta go.' He said quickly and put the phone down. Scully frowned in confusion and her head was spinning. What the hell? She stared at the phone for a moment and then decided to get up. She got up as quickly as she could and threw off her boots. Wincing in pain she made herself get into the shower and sort herself out. But she nearly fell on her weak legs as she made her way to the bathroom…

**NEW INFORMATION**

Langley, Byers and Frohike sat around their desk and stared at the information in front of them. They couldn't believe what they were looking at, or what they had discovered. Langley yawned heavily and Byers gave him a look.

'What the hell are you so tired for, you didn't get up today until about 1.' Byers said to him, raising an eyebrow.

'Yeah well you two woke me up!' Langley said. 'And why did I have to phone Scully anyway?' He said in a childlike way. Byers turned away from him and Frohike gave him a look.

'I asked if I could!' Frohike said. Langley sighed.

'Oh for god's sake Frohike will you get over her already!' Langley said, and Frohike shook his head.

'She's hot!' He said and Langley rolled his eyes.

'Come on man, we all know Mulder's got her already.' Langley said with a small smile and Frohike and Byers both turned to him with a surprised look on their faces. Langley looked at them with eyebrows raised and he shifted nervously on his feet. 'What!' He said exasperatedly and then turned away, embarassed.

'Look, lets just figure out how to tell Scully this news. She's going to go crazy… are we really ready for the fiery bombshell to explode at us at 5am?' Frohike said, moving towards the kettle and pouring himself a coffee. Byers sighed heavily.

'I can't believe it. I really can't.' Byers said , shaking his head. There was a silence between the three and then Frohike turned to them.

'Anyone else want a coffee?'

But there was the loud knocking on the door. Frohike jumped and in the shock of it all and the early hours of the morning, he spilt his coffee over his hand. 'Aaaah!' He shouted out and dropped the mug on the floor. 'Dammit!' He exclaimed and Byers gave him a deathly look.

'Clean that up!' He said angrily, and moved towards the door. He checked the screening to see who was there, although he already knew. Scully was also already letting herself heard.

'Let me in guys!' She shouted from the other side and Byers looked at Langley.

'I don't think we should ask for the password today.**' **Langley said and Byers nodded in agreement. They prepared themselves for the fiery Scully to explode into the room. They unlocked the door and the door was thrown open and they almost fell back as she stormed into the room. However Byers noticed that she was a bit slower and less full of life than usual. Langley looked at her and remembered what she had said before. He whistled under his breath.

'Woah, Scully. Are you sure you're all right?' Langley asked as they moved towards her. Scully looked around the three of them and Frohike gave her a little wave. She swallowed deeply as she saw that they were looking at her with wide, sympathetic eyes. She felt quite annoyed actually. She had showered, put some make up on and changed her clothes.

'Hey I don't look that bad do I? If you'd seen me about three hours ago you would have probably pronouced me dead.' She said in with a small smirk and they all looked at each other uneasily. Scully sighed heavily. 'Look, I'm obviously not very well, and I'm very tired. Please tell me what I'm here for.' She said and moved towards the chair. Frohike pulled it out for her and she forced a small smile as she edged her body onto the chair and winced as her back panged with pain. They rushed to her and she put her hand up in friendly dismissal, but they didn't listen.

'Scully are you sure you're ok?

'Scully… let me get you something…'

'Do you want some Coffee?'

'No, don't give her Coffee you nearly killed yourself pouring your own cup!'

'What about something to eat? Are you hungry?'

'Do you want an ice pack or an aspirin..?'

'GUYS STOP!' Scully shouted out and put her hand up. They looked at her with surprise and there was a long silence. She was pissed off now. She couldn't handle this much longer. Hot tears coated her throat and she learnt forward and held her head in her hands. After a moment she took a deep breath.

'I'll have a coffee.' She said in a small voice.

After getting her a coffee and something to eat, even though she had said she was all right, Scully slowly started to feel content and calm for the first time in days. She smiled a little now, and actually liked the fuss that the lone gunmen were making of her. It was the first time people had showed her care and affection for a while. After dealing with Mulder's 'death' together they had all actually grown a lot closer. Scully remembered the day that she had come in and told them that she couldn't find him anywhere and that she was giving up hope, it had been a very sad day.

'I feel better now, thanks guys.' She said and Langley nodded. 'Please tell me this news isn't going to really piss me off.'

'Well, it may give you a kind of mixed reaction.' Byers said in small voice, and picked up the pack of paper that had been lying on the desk. Scully looked at it with weary eyes and she felt her chest tighten with fear. 'You ready?' He asked, and Scully nodded. Byers opened the pack of paper and took out the first sheet and handed it to her.

'We've found out where Mulder was taken.' Byers said first, and Scully looked at him with shock. He carried on. 'He was taken to a rail car where other people have been taken to and tested on by the military.' Byers said, and Scully shook her head in disbelief. She already knew where this was going. 'I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about.' He said and Scully nodded and put a hand to her mouth. She covered her face in her hand and took a deep breath. She didn't know what to say.

'We think that Mulder was tested on by the same people that took you, Scully. But the big thing is, that they took something from him. They took his DNA.' Langley said, and Scully raised her eyebrows. 'But this is where it gets even more interesting…'

'Mulder's mother, Teena, was cloned and made as an experiment. She was made into a part alien experiement by the military and the aliens and this is who has been making people believe that she is still alive. It was all a trick Scully, it was all a trick to draw Mulder in, to get him to follow the trail and to get him captured.' Langley said in a small voice. Scully nodded and felt shocked tears sting her eyes. There was a long silence and she finally shifted and took a deep breath.

'But what about his memory, why had he lost it?' Scully said in a small voice. Byers shook his head.

'That's what we can't understand. They either took it from him, like they did with you, but they should have done a much better job of it, seeing as he remembers you and his past. Only time will tell if he remembers anything else.' Byers said sadly, and Scully nodded, trying to control the anger that was raging inside her.

'That's why I was attacked last night.' She said, and the lone gunmen turned to look at her in shock. 'A man came up to me and attacked me when I left the hospital, asking me to tell him what Mulder remembered.' She said, lowering her head. The three gave each other sideways glances and frowned in thought. 'I told him that Mulder didn't remember anything. He left me finally, but I don't know if he believed me. I'll never know.' She said sadly, and the Frohike put a friendly arm on her shoulder. There was a long silence between them and suddenly Byers broke it.

'Did you check if Mulder was all right?' Byers said suddenly, looking at Scully. Scully looked up at him in surprise.

'He's in the hospital he's fine.' She said in confusion.

'Yes but, if this man was asking about him, did you check before you left that he was all right?' Byers said again, fear inside him now. Scully suddenly gasped in shock and felt hot tears sting her eyes.

'Oh my god! Mulder!' She cried out and suddenly sprung from her seat. She grabbed her jacket and threw it around her and ran to the door. The three looked at her with surprise.

'Hey! Scully!' Frohike called after her, as her cup of coffee fell to the floor in the commotion. Frohike watched as her red hair shot out of the door and then he looked down at his broken mug sadly. She swung the door open and ran out, as fast as her legs could carry her. Frohike looked down at the mug sadly and Langley raised an eyebrow at him. Byers sighed heavily.

'I hope to god she doesn't do anything stupid.'


	24. Chapter 24

**LET ME HELP YOU**

Scully tore round the corner and screeched on the brakes as she entered the hospital car park. The rain was tearing down again and she switched everything off as fast as possible, forgetting to turn the wipers off, but she didn't care. She threw the car door open and her heels hit the wet pavement hard and water splashed up her trousers. But she didn't care. She needed to get inside, to check on Mulder.

Fear was pumping through her body as she ran up the steps and burst into the busy hospital which by now she knew so well. She ran past the receptionist without announcing that she was there and felt as she thundered down the hall the receptionist's eyes bearing into her back in annoyance. Scully sighed heavily and tore around the corner nearly crashing into a doctor then took a sharp left towards Mulder's room. She stormed towards the door and flung it open only to find it completely empty.

Scully felt her heart skip a beat and she felt as if she might faint. The room was empty. Mulder was gone. Where the hell was he? She panicked, her mind racing. She felt as if the world was crumbling around her, like she didn't want to live anymore. He was gone, he was actually missing. She felt her sadness and fear turn into instant rage and she turned on her heels and tore down the corridor. As soon as she saw a nurse or doctor she started her attack.

'WHERE IS HE?' She shouted, pointing to Mulder's room. A nurse frowned in confusion and tired to calm her.

'Mam, will you quieten down please?'

'WHERE'S MULDER!' She shouted again, ignoring her. A doctor was now coming towards her with an embarassed look on his face. 'There was a patient in that room called Fox Mulder, he was brought in here a few days ago and now he is not there! Where is he!' She demanded, hot tears stinging her eyes. The nurse nodded at her and tried to hold her back but Scully was charging around like a mad woman. She couldn't help herself.

'Please, keep your voice down!' The doctor said, coming towards her. Scully raged towards him.

'WHERE IS HE!' She shouted again, and the doctor looked at her sternly.

'Mr Mulder..' He started but Scully butted in.

'Yes Fox Mulder..' She raged on but the doctor grabbed her arms and in frustration and shock Scully stopped suddenly.

'Yes I know, I remember you. Please calm down and let me explain what's happened…' The doctor said in a calm voice and Scully opened her eyes wide in shock and fear, she didn't even want to bear thinking about…

'Scully?'

Scully frowned in surprise at the sound of the voice from behind her. She felt her heart slow down suddenly, it was like the world had stopped and she was the only one there. She thought she had heard right, but had she? Had she really heard that voice right? She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and she gasped as if the wind had been knocked out of her as she felt his touch. Scully blinked back hot tears and slowly turned to face Mulder, who was looking down at her with wide, concerned eyes. Scully stared up at his kind, soft eyes and she felt her heart melt. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Mulder frowned in concern at her expression.

'Scully what's wrong? Are you all right?' He asked softly, and Scully had to take a few more breaths before she could answer. She slowly felt a small relieved laugh escape her lips and then she felt herself jump onto him and pull him towards her into a tight embrace. The feeling of having him in her arms made her so happy. She held him tight and she felt him hug her tight back, holding her in confusion and worry.

They stayed like that for a few moments and then Scully pulled back from him and raised her arm to his cheek.

'Thank god you're all right.' She gushed and Mulder stared into her eyes with confusion. She felt him scan her face and then she saw his eyes glisten with concern. Scully felt her stomach flutter.

'Scully, what happened to you?' He asked softly, and Scully blushed a little at his concern for her. She sighed heavily.

'I- I can't talk about it here, let's get you home and I'll explain everything.' She said gently, and Mulder frowned in disaproval for a moment, but Scully pulled him along and he followed her. 'Have you been told you can come home?'

'I was just leaving when I heard you shouting in the corridors!' He exclaimed and followed her through the corridors and towards the door. Mulder pulled his leather jacket over his shoulders that Scully had brought in for him the other day and she saw him pull it on over his toned arms and she felt her stomach flutter again. She cursed herself inside for feeling this way. They reached the hospital doors and Scully opened them but Mulder stopped for a moment. She turned to look at him and he was staring out of the windows of the door. His face was quite expressionless and Scully frowned in concern as she saw him look at the world outside like a confused little boy. She took a step towards him and he didn't move. She gave him a moment, but there was still no response.

'What are you thinking?' She said softly, and Mulder blinked.

'I'm just… amazed that I lost my memory of.. my life.. of the world.' He said in a voice which sounded so far away. Scully called out for him inside and she felt her heart ache for him. She wanted to hold him close to her forever. She took another step towards him and reached out for his hand. Mulder looked towards her and he took it slowly. Scully felt herself smile as he held her hand in his.

'Come on Mulder, let me help you get back home and back to normal. You'll be fine soon.' She said gently, and Mulder nodded slowly. Scully waited for him to decide to come with her, and after a few moments, he stepped forward and they walked out into the now clear weather holding hands, and Scully helped her best friend, her partner, and now the man she loved, back towards his normal life again.

**Later that evening**

It was raining again, and Mulder sat on his sofa and watched as the rain hit his windows hard. He sighed in a mixture of tiredness and contentement as he felt safe back in his apartment again, and he reflected on all that had happened to him and Scully in the past few months. He couldn't even imagine what she had been through, thinking that he was dead and having to give up on him and losing hope when she couldn't find him, and she was still there with him, by his side to help him whenever he needed her. He turned towards the kitchen where she was making herself a coffee. He studied her as she ran a cloth over the worktop and then went to the sink to clean it out. She was so careful and gentle with every move she made, she never did anything without thinking first. Mulder admired her so much, he forgot how much she meant to him sometimes. A small smile escaped his lips as she thought about how she had never believed him back in the day, and how she had sometimes laughed at his theories, but then she had never left him or never failed him. Mulder felt his heart call out for her, he was so grateful to have someone like her in his life. Losing her and then getting her back in his life again had helped remind him of this again.

Mulder nearly kicked himself in disbelief for forgetting Scully. How could he have forgotten his best friend? Mulder frowned in thought as he watched her again. He could see that she wasn't her usual self, and that she had been badly hurt somehow. It was obvious from the bruises on her face and the way she was wasn't as agile or as full of life as she usually was. He knew that she was hiding something from him, something big. But she hadn't told him yet. He was getting impatient now, and worried about her. He needed to know.

'Scully?' He called to her and she raised her head and looked at him. Mulder smiled a little. 'Come on over here, I'm getting lonely.' He said.

'I'm just coming Mulder, you just rest.' She called out from the kitchen and Mulder felt frustrated.

'Scully I'm not ill anymore you know I'm fine.'

'Just making sure.' She said in a low voice and then he saw her coming towards him from across the room. Mulder smiled as she came near him and she sat down next to him slowly. Mulder studied her features as they hit the light of the sitting room and he saw how tired her eyes looked. They looked like she could hardly keep them open.

'Scully…' Mulder stared, but she interrupted.

'Mulder before you say anything…' She said.

'No Scully. I need to know what happened to you. You have to tell me Scully.' He said with concern and Scully closed her eyes. Mulder waited for her reply.

'I got into a fight.' She said in a small voice, and didn't meet his gaze. Mulder frowned in confusion.

'I don't believe you.' Mulder said and then reached out for her hand. Scully jumped at his touch and felt her heart beating in her chest like crazy. Should she tell him? It'll just make him more worried.

'Mulder. I'm so tired…' She said in refusal.

'Scully, look at me. Look at me please.' He begged, and Scully closed her eyes, trying to hide her emotions. After a few moments she turned to meet his gaze. Mulder looked into her eyes and saw that she looked like she was going to cry. He frowned in concern.

'Scully, you're got a black eye, you look tired and weak. Tell me what happened to you.' He said with concern, and Scully suddenly lowered her head and let out a small sob.

'I… I was attacked.' She said quietly. Mulder frowned in horror and concern. He felt rage fill his blood.

'Who the hell did that to you?' He raged, and Scully shook her head.

'They wanted to know… they wanted to know what you remembered…' She said in a low voice, and Mulder took a deep breath. This was crazy.

'What do you mean?'

'Mulder they don't want you to remember anything that happened to you. They took away your memories, like they took mine.' Scully said, and raised her eyes to his now. This had to be said to him, and she would have to do it with as much confidence as she could. Mulder was stunned for a moment and he frowned in confusion.

'What did you tell them?' He asked after a few minutes.

'I told them you didn't remember anything. Mulder that was the only way, if they found out that you remember then they are going to kill you.' She said in a weak voice and she felt hot tears coat her throat. Mulder frowned in concern at her and sighed heavily.

'Thank you Scully.' He said in a whisper, and Scully nodded. 'You did the right thing. What did they do to you?' He asked in concern and Scully shook her head.

'Mulder I'm fine.' She said in a small voice, but Mulder shook his head and took hold of her arm gently. He held it tight and then put his other hand on top of is gently. Scully stared into his eyes. She was so close to him now she could hardly breathe.

'You're not fine. I'm so sorry Scully, this is all my fault. God if only I could get my hands on that bastard…' Mulder started.

'I'm just glad that you're ok. That's the most important thing. That we've both got through this and that we're here together.' Scully said with a small smile and Mulder nodded. Scully moved her gaze to his lips and saw how close they were to hers. She felt her heart race inside her body. She didn't know if she could control herself any longer. She needed to get out of his position, but Mulder wouldn't let her, he was holding her close. Scully swallowed nervously and blinked.

'I… I felt like I… died when we thought you were dead.' She said in a weak voice. 'Don't leave me again. Please Mulder, don't leave me again, don't leave me again, don't, don't leave me…' Scully said, her words rolling off her tongue now uncontrollably, and she was nearly crying, but then to her absolute shock it wasn't her that made the move, but Mulder, who grabbed her and pulled her towards him and their lips met in a long, strong kiss.

Scully felt his hot lips touching hers and at first she felt like she was dreaming. She couldn't believe it. Was this really happening? When she realised that it was, she nearly squealed in shock. After a few moments, they pulled apart and Scully stared at Mulder in shock. Mulder stared back at Scully in surprise and his mind was racing. What the hell had he just done? Why had he kissed her? They stared at each other, not knowing what to say as the rain plummetted hard onto the glass windows. Scully was desperate to get out of there, to run away, to pretend that it didn't happen. This changed everything now, this was serious. But it hadn't been her that had made the move! It had been Mulder! Scully couldn't believe it. After a long silence, Mulder luckily broke it.

'I wasn't expecting that Scully.' He said in a cocky tone, and Scully let out a nervous laugh.

'I… I don't know what to say.' She said awkwardly, and Mulder nodded.

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you.' He said, and blushed heavily.

But before Scully could answer, the phone rang.


	25. Chapter 25

Scully stared at the phone in shock, and Mulder did the same. The noise broke the awkward silence like glass being smashed. Mulder jumped for the phone and picked it up quickly, as Scully rose from the sofa and made her way to the bathroom.

'Hello?' Mulder asked.

'Well hello there, Agent Mulder.'

Mulder felt his heart skip a beat. He couldn't believe it. It was that voice again. It was that computerised voice. Mulder nearly shouted out loud.

'Scully!' He whispered heavily, and she turned around in surpise at him. She immediately saw the fear and annoyance in his eyes and she knew at the moment that something was wrong. Mulder pointed to the phone and she realised. It was that bastard again. Scully gasped and ran towards Mulder.

'What do you want you son of a bitch.' Mulder said, his voice wavering with anger. Scully was looking at him with worried, stern eyes. She looked around the room questioningly, and then moved towards the window to look out into the street. She wanted to see if there were people watching, monitoring them.

'Just to talk to you, I haven't spoken to you like this before have I agent Mulder. It's such a pleasure to talk to you. Though I did thoroughly enjoy talking to the beautiful Agent Scully.' The voice rasped and Mulder felt the anger burning inside him as he spoke about Scully. Mulder looked towards her and felt his heart pounding. She looked so beautiful there standing by the window.

'What the hell do you want?' Mulder shouted angrily. Scully meanwhile, had now spotted a black car on the side of the road. She frowned in suspicion as she looked at it.

'Well Agent Mulder, the first thing I suggest you do is tell Agent Scully to get away from that window…' The voice said threateningly, and Mulder suddenly felt his heart in his throat. He stared at Scully in shock as she turned to look at him and he could tell she was about to speak to him. It was as if the world suddenly turned into slow motion and he saw exactly what was going to happen if he didn't move her out of the way. Mulder jumped up from the sofa and ran towards her. He saw the expression on her face of surprise and confusion.

'SCULLY!' Mulder shouted out as he lunged for her, but it was too late. A loud bang erupted through the apartment and the window smashed open. Mulder looked into Scully's shocked and clueless eyes as the bullet hit her hard in her left side. Mulder shouted out in horror as she felt backwards to the floor with a heavy thud.

'SCULLY! NO!' Mulder shouted out in horror and ran towards his partner. She was bleeding heavily, blood was spilling on the floor. Mulder looked down at her and hot tears welled in his eyes. He couldn't believe this was happening, that he was looking at Scully, bleeding heavily. Her eyes were wide open and tears were brimming in them. Her mouth was open in a motionless way and she was groaning softly as she took breaths. Mulder grimaced in horror and touched her cheek gently. He realised he was shaking.

'Scully? Scully!' He cried desperately. She didn't answer. 'Scully please, stay with me, stay with me…' He said, his voice trembling with sad tears. He couldn't lose Scully, he couldn't live without her. Scully's eyes flickered and they focused on his own. The look in her eyes was killing him, she looked as if she was a frightened young girl and that she was pleading with him for help. Mulder shook his head in disbelief as a hot tear ran down his cheek. In fury he grabbed the phone.

'YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!' Mulder screamed down the phone, and then hung up as soon as he could. He punched in 911 and explained the situation to them desperately.

'Please I need help I have an FBI agent down… please help she's been shot!' Mulder shouted desperately, knowing full well that Scully wasn't officially an Agent anymore, but that it would get the ambulance there faster. He frowned in sorrow and concern for her after he had made the call and she looked at him desperately. Mulder felt the tears escape his eyes. He couldn't help it. He saw that she was shaking and the sounds she made were heart breaking.

'Scully it's all right, just stay with me.' He said softly, holding her hand tight. 'Please don't leave me Scully, I can't live without you…' He said desperately, and he saw Scully's eyes flicker and she groaned in agony. Mulder wanted to hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right, but he knew that would make her worse. But he really wanted to hold her. Mulder couldn't believe how he was feeling now. It hit him like a ton of bricks. He really did feel that way. He really did.

'Scully… I…' He started, but then was shocked as he realised what he was about to say. Mulder swallowed nervously and stared down at her, she was still so beautiful even in this state. He frowned with concern and tried to stay strong for her but it was so hard. 'Scully I… I don't regret kissing you. I… I think I love you…' He said desperately, not even believing himself that he said it, and to his surprise he saw Scully's eyes light up a little and she squeezed his hand. Mulder looked at her in complete surprise as she seemed to be… nodding? Was she nodding? Mulder couldn't believe it. She wasn't mad or embarassed about this? Mulder felt emotions rage inside him and he lifted Scully's soft, small hand and kissed it passionately. His heart was racing now.

But this moment was broken suddenly by the sound of the door crashing down and Mulder raised his head in shock. Someone had just broken into his apartment. Mulder looked down at Scully as the crash echoed through the apartment and he felt his heart ache for her as she seemed to look frantic and afraid. Mulder squeezed her hand and gave her a confident look. Quickly, he rose to his feet and grabbed his baseball bat which was lying under the coffee table. Mulder frowned in concentration and rage as he sidled along the wall towards the door. He could sense someone in the room. He took a deep breath, and then when he was ready, he jumped out from behind the wall and came face to face with the man he hated with every fibre of his being. Alex Krycek.

'You!' Mulder shouted out in rage, and Alex frowned at him in surpise and was ready to punch Mulder around the face, but Mulder was there too fast and he whacked Alex hard around the head with the baseball bat. Alex cried out and went flying into the wall. Mulder raised the bat again and hit it hard down on Alex's bat and he fell to the floor.

'MULDER! STOP!' Alex shouted out desperately, and Mulder felt the fury burning inside of him now.

'Stop?' Mulder asked incredulously. 'STOP!? Who the hell do you think I am!'

'I didn't do this to Scully!' Alex cried out desperately. Mulder frowned in anger.

'How the hell would you know about Scully unless you were involved you bastard!' Mulder thundered and raised the bat high again. Krychek spun around and came face to face with Mulder. His face made him sick.

'You don't understand. I have orders.' Krycek pleaded with Mulder, but Mulder shook his head.

'Well its our own choice whether to follow them or not isnt it.' Mulder shouted, and brought the bat down again, but this time Alex was quick to defend himself and he grabbed it, stopping Mulder's swing in mid motion. Mulder glared into his angry eyes and the two held their gaze for a few seconds.

'What do you remember.' Alex said finally, in a low voice. Mulder was totally shocked at this comment.

'WHAT?' Mulder asked disbelievingly.

'WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER AGENT MULDER!' Krycek shouted, pushing the bat towards Mulder's neck. Mulder cried out in annoyance and took a deep breath as he felt Krycek push the bat towards him and then suddenly there was a loud cry of pain from the sitting room. Mulder turned in fear at the sound of Scully's cries and he felt his heart skip a beat in worry for her. As he turned Krycek pushed the bat towards him and Mulder was flung back against the wall. Mulder cried out in shock and the bat was pushed under his chin. Mulder felt his larynx getting squashed under the heavy wood and he spluttered for air. Krycek's mad eyes bore into him. Mulder felt his heart get faster with fear and anger. He needed to help Scully, but he was stuck. How could he have been so careless?

'Please… p-please..' Mulder spluttered desperately, as the bat tightened his breathing and he started to feel dizzy.

**NEARLY FINISHED GUYS!**

**Hope ur liking it!**


	26. Chapter 26

Krycek stared Mulder in the eyes and felt his grip on the bat tighten as he pushed it into Mulder's neck. Mulder felt himself get lighter and he couldn't breathe. Rasping breaths gaped out of his mouth as Krycek pinned him to the wall.

'You think you can get away with this Mulder, but you can't. You weren't supposed to remember anything.' Krycek rasped in an angry, low voice. Mulder glared at him with hatred.

'Tell me what you remember and I'll save Scully's live.' Krycek said and Mulder felt like he was torn. He wanted to help Scully so desperately, but he also knew that the ambulance was on its way and should be there any minute. Mulder racked his brains for a plan and tried to stay concious as the air was escaping him quickly, but more to his horror Scully's cries had quietened down and he couldn't even imagine what her condition was now. Mulder grunted angrily and clenched his teeth together. He glared at Krycek and didn't answer.

'TELL ME!' Krycek boomed, the Mulder took as deep a breath he could and then with all his strength he kicked his knee into Krycek's knee and Krycek buckled slighting and his grip loosened. Feeling the weakness, Mulder grabbed the bat and pulled it down and pushed Krycek towards the other wall on the other side of the hall. Mulder shouted out in anger and frustration as Krycek's back hit the wall with a loud thud and he grimaced in pain. Mulder grabbed the bat up again and brought a hard smack across Krycek's shoulder. Krycek cried out in pain and Mulder held him still while he struggled under his grip. But then in all the struggling, Mulder saw something fall out of the jacket that Krycek was wearing. Mulder frowned in confusion as he saw a small blue, electronic looking device and he looked back at Krycek with questioning eyes. Krycek was now silent and still, and was looking directly into Mulder's eyes.

'What's that on the floor.' Mulder demanded, his voice still a bit raspy from before. He took long, heavy breaths to get the oxygen back in his body. Krycek made a quick sideways glance to wear it lay on the floor and Mulder felt overflowing anger fill his body when he didn't answer. 'WHAT IS IT!' Mulder boomed, and Krycek didn't answer again. Mulder cried out in annoyance and with another strike of anger he swung the bat across Krycek's face and hit him hard. The force of the blow threw Krycek to the floor and he was barely concious. Mulder quickly bent down and grabbed Krycek and picked up the small device off the floor. Mulder frowned as he looked at it slowly, trying to figure out what it was. It had small holes in it which looked like a large earphone piece or.. a microphone. Mulder frowned in confusion and then saw a button at the side of the device that could be pressed. Mulder then realised that it was smilar to a small hand held radio. It didn't take him long to add everything up and realise what it really was.

The obvious truth came crashing down on him like a ton of bricks. Of course, Mulder's mind realised that this was a voice decoder. That this was the voice decoder that Krycek had used while speaking to them on the phone.

'You.' Mulder whispered with hatred, and Krycek slowly raised his battered head to look at him. 'It was you all along.' Mulder spat out at him, and then grabbed Krycek by his jacket and looked into his eyes. Krycek spluttered and frowned in pain.

'Please… M-Mulder…' Krycek said desperately, but Mulder wasn't having it.

'I'M GOING TO LOCK YOU UP FOR THE REST OF YOUR SORRY LIFE ALEX KRYCEK!' Mulder screamed and Krycek shook his head desperately. But before he could say anything else, Mulder hit a strong punch down on Krycek's cheek and Krycek's eyes closed and he fell to the floor.

Mulder took a deep breath and stood up slowly. He felt as if the room was spinning, as if he wasn't even there, like it had all been a dream. Had it? But Mulder was taken from dream land extrememly quickly when he heard the heartbreaking and painful cries of Scully from behind him. Mulder turned and ran towards her, his heart filling with sorrow and fear. He felt his stomach turn as he looked down at her now, a pool of blood was spilling around her and she was so pale. Mulder got to his knees and put a hand on her cheek softly and she slowly fluttered her eyelids and tried to open her mouth to speak.

'Shh Scully, don't waste your energy. The ambulance will be here soon. It's all right.' Mulder said softly, and grabbed hold of her hand and kissed it gently. Scully tried to speak again but it came out as a small mutter and Mulder stopped her again desperately.

'Scully no, don't speak. It's all right.' Mulder said. 'I'm not going anywhere.' Scully's eyes fluttered closed again and Mulder could see her chest rising and falling heavily. He felt hot tears sting his eyes as he felt great guilt fill his chest.

'Scully I… I'm so sorry I didn't help you when you were calling… before…' Mulder said, trying desperately not to cry. He suddenly felt like he should have come to help her straight away. He couldn't even imagine how scared she was right now. He kissed her hand again and closed his eyes, trying to stay strong for her. After a few moments, Mulder suddenly heard a siren in the distance. Mulder quickly raised his head and looked up at the broken window. He looked down at Scully and he could see that she could hear it also and was opening her eyes slowly. Mulder frowned with concern for her and touched her cheek.

'Scully, they're coming now. Stay still, don't speak. Just hold on please, they're here.' He said gently, as he heard the sirens get faster.

'You… you called the cops?'

Mulder couldn't believe it. Had he just heard that? Mulder frowned in utter shock and anger as he heard Krycek's voice, terrified and shaky coming from behind him. But it was too late. Krycek was on his feet and was running out the door. Mulder shouted out in frustration and he felt panic enter his chest. Mulder jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could to the door but Krycek was out of it way before he was there. Mulder was ready to run out into the corridor when Scully cried out in pain from behind him. Mulder stopped dead in his tracks. Her cries were deep and desperate, and now she sounded scared and alone. Mulder couldn't move for a moment. He had to choose. Should he go after Krycek, or should he stay with his partner and help her. Mulder took a deep breath and he already knew his decision. One more cry from Scully was enough to make him nearly sob with concern and panic for her and he turned quickly back to her and then ran towards her again and saw that her hand was reaching out in his direction. Mulder grabbed it gently and kissed it again and held it tight to his chest. Scully's eyes flickered as he got near her and her breathing seemed to be getting slower. Mulder tried to calm her and she seemed to be shaking now. Mulder felt fear and horror fill his chest as he saw her in this state. But he could hear footsteps outside now, and voices shouting to each other.

'Scully, it's ok, they're here now. I'm sorry Scully, I'm sorry I shouldn't have left you. I'm sorry I won't leave you again. I'm so sorry…' Mulder repeated again and again desperately, feeling his emotions racing uncontrollably. He kissed her hand passionately. 'Scully, sweety…' He gushed, and the paramedics burst into the apartment and then he was swept up and he rose to his feet and stepped back as they surrounded her and started their work. Mulder looked upon the scene like he wasn't really there, like he was separate from them and he was watching them from outside. He saw them stick things into Scully and he felt his stomach turn with worry for her as she was lifted onto a stretcher and a gas mask was put over her mouth. As they came over to him to ask him what had happened, Mulder felt his exhausted and emotionally raw state and found it nearly impossible to get the words out…

**hope u like it,**

**last chapter or so to go now, im so tired from it all! **

**Sorry I havent written for a while, ive been on holiday. **

**Hope this chapter is ok tho!**


	27. Chapter 27

**DON'T LEAVE ME**

Mulder watched as Scully was rolled down the corridor on a stretcher, the doctors milling around her and people passing medical equipment over her and then back. He felt his stomach tighten as she was taken away from his sight and he wanted so badly to run after her, but he had already been told off for being too close. He hadn't let go of her hand from the moment the ambulance started off until the point when they entered the ER. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment and his mind ran through the events of what had just happened. He couldn't believe that it had been Krycek all along, and that he had gotten away. Again.

Mulder sighed heavily in great anger and opened his eyes again to see the busy hospital buzzing around him. He could almost hear his heart beating in his chest for Scully, he was so worried. He could see when he closed his eyes her delicate and beautiful arms being poked by harsh needles and doctor's hands going over her skin and knives cutting into her chest to get the bullet out which was now probably lodged in her…

Mulder shook his head and opened his eyes, pushing the horrible thoughts away. He felt like he was going to be sick with worry when a nurse but a hand on his arm and he gasped in shock and jumped up.

'I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you.' The nurse said, frowning with concern as she looked at him. Mulder sighed heavily and tried to regain himself.

'Sorry, I- I was just thinking… how is she?' He spluttered out desperately, and the nurse managed a small smile.

'She's just in theatre now, the doctor told me to come and tell you that they're working on her and he believes that she's going to be fine.' The nurse said kindly, and Mulder took a deep breath. 'May I ask, are you the husband?'

Mulder felt his breath catch in his throat as she said the words. They came out of no where. Mulder felt himself feel a little giddy and almost laughed.

'No, no I'm her friend, her work partner. We're FBI agents.' Mulder said in a hurry, and the nurse nodded.

'Oh all right. Well if you could just wait here then, is there anything I can get you?' She asked kindly, and Mulder shook his head, thinking that if he drank anything it would probably make him sick.

'No, no, thank you anyway.' He said, waving his hand in dismissal and she turned and went off to work as Mulder slowly sat down on the chairs at the side of the corridor. He bent over and held his head in his hands sadly and closed his eyes.

**LATER**

Mulder woke with a start as he felt a hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice speaking to him.

'Mulder?'

Mulder jumped up in surprise and looked up to the man beside him. Mulder nearly got to his feet in shock.

'Sir!' He exclaimed as Skinner looked down at him. Mulder frowned in confusion and suddenly everything came back to him again. 'I… was I….'

'Asleep? I think so.' Skinner said with a small smile, and Mulder nodded uneasily.

'Is… is Scully…'

'Mulder I just got here, apparently she's just coming out of theatre now.' Skinner said softly, and Mulder took a deep breath and felt his heart pound loudly in his chest.

'Thank god. Thank god.' Mulder breathed shakily, and he ran a hand through his hair again. Skinner patted him on the shoulder.

'Quite a rough few months you and Scully have gone through Mulder.' Skinner said. Mulder realised that he was looking at him with almost a fatherly expression of pride. Mulder frowned in confusion. 'However when I came here today the last person I expected to see was you.' Skinner exclaimed, and then a smile broke across his face and Mulder thought he might cry out in happiness. Mulder frowned in confusion as he looked at Skinner.

'Erm.. Sir?'

'Since when have you been alive!' Skinner exclaimed, and to Mulder's shock he threw his arms around Mulder in an embrace. Mulder tried to work everything out in his head, but Skinner was laughing happily in his ear. When he pulled away Mulder felt his mind ticking.

'You.. you didn't know?' Mulder said slowly.

'No one told me! God! I can't believe it! I get a phone call saying that Agent Scully is in hospital and then I come rushing here and then as I turn the corner I see a man on the chairs asleep and then I realise as I come nearer that… that it's you!' Skinner exclaimed. Mulder felt his own smile start to break now. It was nice to see Skinner so happy to see him alive. 'It's fantastic to see you Mulder. You realise a lot of people think you're dead right?'

'Of course.' Mulder said, blinking with tiredness. 'But I've had a lot of other things on my mind…'

'Naturally.' Skinner said with a smile, and took a deep breath. 'Well, where have you been?' Skinner asked, in a more serious tone now. Mulder sighed heavily.

'I erm… well. I can't really remember to be honest.' Mulder said in a low voice. Skinner nodded and put his hands in his pockets. But Mulder knew there was more important things to be done.

'Sir, Krycek. It was Krycek all along. He was the man that spoke to us on the phone, and the man who organised all the kidnappings. I believe he ordered someone to shoot Scully.' Mulder blurted out, his eyes raging with anger. Skinner saw it immediately and knew that the conversation had to quickly change tone. Skinner took a deep breath of anger and tried to control himself. Damn Krycek.

'Are you sure Mulder?'

'YES. Of course I am.' Mulder nearly shouted, but Skinner didn't flinch. 'Sir, I need you to do a manhunt for Alex Krycek. He got away before I could stop him.' Mulder said, and Skinner nodded. They looked at each other for a moment and then Mulder took Skinner's hand and shook it. 'Thank you Sir.' Mulder said graciously, and Skinner nodded. He then turned and quickly made his way out of the hospital. But before Mulder could speak again a doctor was behind him. Mulder turned quickly and looked at the doctor eagerly. He felt his heart going overdrive.

'Mr Mulder, Dana is sleeping, she's just come out of theatre. We removed the bullet and fixed the wound. She's lost a lot of blood however, and she's very weak. Therefore she is still getting blood into her body and she is still in a critical state.' The doctor said seriously, and Mulder blinked as hot tears stung his eyes.

'Is she.. is she going to be ok?' Mulder asked in a small voice. He felt hot beats of sweat appear on his forehead.

'She should be, but the next hour will be the crucial time. Her body needs to repair itself and it may take time, so I suggest that she gets no visitors for the next hour, I'm sorry.' The doctor said and Mulder nodded slowly, his heart racing. He felt a falling feeling in his stomach as he realised that he couldn't see her straight away, couldn't kiss her, couldn't hold her like he wanted to so badly, but he was also very clear that it was for the best, so he dealed with it.

'If you want to stand by her room, you can. Please let the nurses know if you need anything.' The doctor said, almost walking off but Mulder stopped him.

'Thank you doctor.' He said graciously, and then followed him to Scully's room.

Scully's room was further through the hospital and Mulder nearly counted the steps it took to get to her. It felt like a lifetime. When they finally reached the room Mulder sensed that this was a very busy but also calm part of the hospital where, thought Mulder hated thinking it, it was obviously where people either lived or died. Mulder felt his heart call out for Scully. He knew she was a fighter, he knew that she would be all right.

The doctor pointed to a window, and Mulder moved towards it hesitantly. He slowly began to see the room where she was lying, in bed. He saw her feet under the covers and then his eyes went up her small frame to her shoulders and then her face. Mulder felt his stomach turn when he saw how pale she was. Machines and liquids were being flowed into her and Mulder put his hand up to the glass. He felt hot tears sting his eyes and he swallowed heavily. Mulder looked at her lovingly and with concern as he saw how weak she looked. He wanted to be with her, he wanted to hold her hand so badly. Mulder leant his forehead against the glass and took a deep breath. He saw Scully's chest rise and fall slowly and he sighed heavily with sadness. He was so worried.

**An hour Later**

Mulder pushed the Diet Coke button and waited for his drink to come out of the machine. He was beginning to feel the hunger coming now. He heard it clunk at the bottom of the dispenser and he reached down to get it out when his phone rang. Mulder frowned in confusion and looked to see who it was. Mulder knew full well that he couldn't answer a phone in here, so he had to let it go. Private number anyway.

Mulder took a long sip of coke and it tasted so good. He took a deep breath as he felt the cold liquid seep into him and….

'Mr Mulder? You can see Dana now.'

A young nurse was looking at him with kind eyes and Mulder swallowed heavily.

'Is.. is she all right?' Mulder asked with worry. The nurse smiled.

'She's very strong and we believe she is going to be fine.' She said kindly, and Mulder nodded happily. He knew that Scully would get through this.

Mulder stared at Scully, still looking like she was sleeping in her bed. He frowned with concern for her and slowly walked towards the door. With a swift movement, he turned the handle and walked in.


	28. Chapter 28

**I BELIEVE IN YOU**

Mulder felt his heart wrench as he walked through the door and saw Scully lying in the bed. He swallowed nervously and walked towards her and reached out his hand for hers. He took it in his warm and strong hand and felt her cold and fragile skin against his. Mulder sighed heavily and felt how weak she was. It broke his heart. He slowly sat down in the chair next to her and saw her eyes quiver with movement underneath the eye lids. Mulder saw her strong hair colour crash against the white pillowcase and he wanted to pull her close to him and kiss her. He wanted to tell her that he didn't ever want to lose her. He wanted to forget about all of this crap and get on with their lives.

Mulder squeezed her hand gently and he saw her eyes flicker. Mulder took a sigh of relief as her eyes slowly flickered and her head turned slightly on the pillow, her strong red hair against the white of it. Mulder swallowed nervously and saw her come awake slowly. He kept hold of her hand to make sure that she knew he was there. Scully's chest rose heavily and Mulder frowned in concern as she slowly looked around the room in confusion. He saw her eyebrows frown and wondered if she was in pain. The bandage on her chest was looked heavy and thick. Mulder swallowed again, getting ready to speak to her.

'Scully?' He said softly, and she slowly turned to face him, her eyes wide with fear. Mulder squeezed her hand and moved it further up her arm so he could feel her pulse under her warm skin. 'Scully, it's me. You're all right.' He said softly, and Scully blinked, her wide blue eyes bearing all her emotion. Mulder felt his heart flutter as her eyes said so many things.

'Mu.. Mulder..' She rasped quietly, but Mulder stopped her.

'Save your energy. You're safe now Scully. You're going to be fine. Can you remember what happened to you?' Mulder said softly, and Scully was still for a moment. After a few seconds Mulder saw her face crumble like she was about to cry and she nodded silently. Mulder nodded back to her and lifted a hand to her cheek and stroked it gently.

'Ok. Scully, Skinner is looking for Krycek now. Just relax and focus on getting better. I really thought that I might have lost you this time..' Mulder said, his voice choking up. He swallowed the emotion and took a deep breath as her eyes bored into his. 'I don't know what I would have done.' He said softly, and then without thinking, he leaned over and kissed Scully on the lips. He knew what he was doing, and he wasn't going to stop. He felt this way, and he thought that she felt the same way too. Mulder felt his heart racing as he felt Scully's lips against his again. She didn't move or pull away, and they kissed for a moment and then Mulder pulled away. He looked into her eyes and to his surprise and great happiness, he saw that she was smiling. Mulder couldn't help but smile back with happiness.

'Ok so, you're not slapping me, that must be a good sign…' Mulder said with a small laugh, and he saw Scully's eyes lighten up like she wanted to laugh. He felt great love for her then and concern, he wanted her to be able to laugh and be back to normal. Scully let out a tiny laugh and to Mulder's surprise he saw tears fall from her eyes. Mulder frowned with concern and brushed one away.

'Scully, what's wrong?' He asked gently, and Scully continued to smile. She didn't answer, but Mulder felt her grip on his hand tighten and then, he felt her pulling him towards her again. Mulder felt his heart race in surprise but he didn't want to stop this. Was Scully pulling him in for another kiss? Mulder soon found out as he felt his lips touch Scully's again and she kissed him back this time, softly.

After a few moments Mulder pulled away and kissed Scully on the cheek, on the forehead, on the nose and all over her face. He brushed away her hair from her cheek and leant over her gently, and then feeling an overflowing rush of emotion, he decided to go in for the kill. Mulder felt his heart racing inside of him and knew that if he didn't do this now, he would never do it. He leant over towards her cheek and then whispered in her ear.

'Scully, I love you.'

**Three weeks later**

'I can't tell you how relieved I am to see you two back here. Welcome back Agents.'

Skinner sat across from Mulder and Scully in his office and couldn't help feeling the smile escaping his lips. Only just over a month ago, Mulder had been pronounced dead, and Scully was leaving the FBI. Now his two best and favourite Agents were back. He looked at them proudly and he felt a great relief in his soul. Mulder nodded back and glanced over at Scully, who was looking at Skinner with a serious but happy expression, and her toned leg was crossed over the other, her skirt showing off her thigh muscles. Mulder's eyes moved down her legs and to her heels and he admired her for a moment. She really was a walking goddess.

'Thank you Sir.' Scully said, not noticing Mulder's glances. 'We're so glad to be back. I think we all know what a difficult time this has been for all of us.'

'Well I'm just glad to see you two here safe and sound. I'm sure you'll both want to get back working on the X-Files as soon as possible.' Skinner said.

'You know me.' Mulder said with a smile. 'I can't get enough of that spooky stuff.'

'Yes well, I'm afraid it isn't all good news though.' Skinner said, his smile disappearing and his face turning to his desk. Scully glanced across at Mulder and he glanced at her too, his arm resting on the arm rest of the chair and holding his chin in his hand. Scully saw his strong eyes look at her lovingly and she felt her stomach flutter as she felt his love hit her. She took a deep breath.

'The search for Krycek was a failure. He must have gotten out of the country and fled.' Skinner said in a low voice. Scully frowned as the news hit her sadly. But deep down she already knew that it was unlikely they were going to find him anyway. She looked across at Mulder again who looked unmistakably miserable. She frowned in concern for him and wanted to grab his hand and tell him it was all right.

'I'm sorry Agents. One day we will find him… and set him straight.' Skinner said, feeling the anger burn up inside his own stomach. He looked up from his desk and took a deep breath trying to push the bad news away. 'But for now, its back to normal. I'll send you your first case within the next hour. It's wonderful to have you two back.' Skinner said, rising from the desk and reaching out his hand to Mulder and Scully as they stood up also. They both shook his hand and then they left the room swiftly, and all three of them knew that the feeling of the 'norm' again was the best feeling they could ever have hoped for.

**I LET HIM LOVE ME**

Mulder closed the door behind Scully and he watched her move towards the desk. He looked her up and down quickly and admired her petite frame. He smiled to himself as she turned to him and he walked towards her swiftly, not taking his eyes of hers. Scully felt Mulder's gaze and she saw him walking towards her, his strong handsome frame so proud and magnificent in her eyes. A cute piece of hair nearly hung into his eyes and she reached up to brush it away when he was close enough. Mulder took hold of her hand and kissed it softly. Scully smiled happily and they held hands for a moment, glad to be back in the office again together.

'It's so good to be standing here with you.' Mulder said in a low voice, and Scully nodded.

'I just hope that now things have changed…' She said, lifting his hand up and moving towards him playfully, 'doesn't make working together… difficult.' She said in a low voice, and was close enough to kiss him. Mulder smiled a little and felt her body heat near him. He wanted to kiss her, sweep her off her feet, but he knew that they were at work and they needed to keep a level head. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek gently, but Scully surprised him by grabbing him into an embrace. Mulder felt his arms go around her body and he felt like he would protect her from everything and anything. She felt so small in his arms but she felt like she belonged there. Scully took a deep breath and breathed in the scent of him and melted into his chest. They stood there for a while and held each other.

'Mulder,' Scully said softly, and Mulder murmered in response as they stood still together. 'Mulder, I love you so much. Don't ever leave me.' Scully said, feeling her emotions taking over and she felt hot tears sting her throat. Mulder stroked her hair and held her tight.

'I'll never leave you Scully. Never.' He whispered gently in her ear, and closed his eyes.

**BUT ITS NOT OVER**

The rain hit the roof of the small hut heavily and it was starting to leak. Candlelight flickered around the walls and shadows of the men sitting at the small wooden table were thrown across the walls. As the rain got heavier, the man who was smoking put out his cigarette and then quickly lit a new one, taking no time for a rest between each one.

There was a small flicker of laughter around the table as the men discussed something between them, and then their voices murmured into a hum of low noise. But then their little gathering was suddenly disturbed as the heavy hut door was flung open and a man fell onto his knees in the doorway, soaking wet.

The man smoking the cigarette rose to his feet and went towards the doorway in suspicion. He looked down at the man on the floor silently and took a deep puff from his cigarette as the man breathed heavily and desperately and then raised his head. The cigarette man saw the man's face and the expression he had and quickly took a sharp breath in.

'Alex. You made it.' The smoking man said, and then took another smoke of his cigarette. Alex Krycek crawled slowly to his feet and then the other men from around the table came to join them and one of them helped him to his feet. The smoking man looked at him silently and judgingly. Alex Krycek glared at the smoking man and tried to get his breath back.

'I… I… Scully… she's… she was shot…' Krycek stuttered, and the smoking man nodded.

'Is she dead?' The smoking man asked in a low tone.

'It hasn't been… con… confirmed.' Krycek said desperately. The smoking man paused for a moment.

'Well, I am glad that you have made it back Krycek. And did you find out what Mulder remembered?'

'He… he claims to not remember anything..' Krycek said, and one of the men brought him some water to drink. 'But I don't know if I believe him.'

'No. Neither do I.' The smoking man said, and then turned away. 'Oh well.' He said calmly. 'Our plan is in order. We will get to work on it as soon as we can. Mulder will be cloned, like his mother. We need to form a plan. But first, we need things to go back to normal, like nothing has happened at all. We will act, gentlemen…' The smoking man said, turning to all the men in the room, and they turned to him with wide eyes, 'With the upmost efficiency, and secrecy.'

**THE END**

**(to be continued in another fanfic)**

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